


The Losers Party

by WhelmedBirdie_319



Series: The Losers Party [1]
Category: IT (1990), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: A crossover no one asked for, Bisexual Beverly Marsh, Bisexual Bill Denbrough, Bisexual Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Canon Rewrite, Crossover, Elements from the IT book and miniseries, F/M, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Gay Will Byers, Homophobic Language, How Do I Tag, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Stanley Uris, Pennywise (IT) Exists, Post-Season/Series 02, Richie Tozier and Mike Wheeler Are Twins, Self-Indulgent, Siblings Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Slow Burn, Stan and Robin are siblings, takes place during the IT movie and season 3 of Stranger Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 50,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28536717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhelmedBirdie_319/pseuds/WhelmedBirdie_319
Summary: Derry, Maine is not a safe place. It all started in November of 1987 when Will Byers went missing. Since then it’s like bad things only ever happen in Derry. Hawkins Lab is partly to blame. But the real thing to blame is the creature calling itself Pennywise that lives in the sewers of Derry. It wakes up every 27 and feeds on the people of Derry!A self indulgent crossover of Stranger Things and IT. It takes place during season 3 and during the movie. Hopefully I don’t mess this up, it’s my first time writing something like this.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough & Georgie Denbrough, Bill Denbrough/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Eleven | Jane Hopper & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, The Losers Club (IT) & The Party (Stranger Things), Will Byers & Eleven | Jane & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers & Richie Tozier, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: The Losers Party [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090505
Comments: 16
Kudos: 41





	1. The Death Of Georgie Denbrough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The youngest Denbrough, Georgie, goes out to play in the rain when tragedy strikes.

**Chapter 1:** The Death of Georgie Denbrough

**_Saturday, October 8, 1988_ **

Bill let out a hacking cough for what felt like the millionth time that day. He had been bed ridden for 2, going on 3, days after finding out he had the flu. His mother, Sharon Denbrough, had brought him up some chicken noodle soup for him to eat hours ago. It now sat cold and untouched on his nightstand next to piles of used tissues.

He shifted from laying in his side to laying on his back. He groaned as he ran his hand through his messy reddish brown hair. Bill has had an incessant headache for the past week from the flu and nothing he did was helping to ease it.

Little 6 year old Georgie, Bill's little brother, stood in the doorway. He silently watched his brother suffering from his sickness. Every time Bill would groan out Georgie felt like bursting out in tears at the sight of his older brother in pain.

"Billy?" Georgie finally asked.

"What?" Bill called back, his voice slightly muffled from his pillow, "Wh-why are you p-playing inside?"

"It's raining," Georgie simply stated as he entered the room sitting on the edge of the bed. Bill turned his head from the pillow and regarded Georgie out of the corner of his eye. Georgie kicked his feet off the side of Bill's bed. He reached over to Bill's desk and picked up one of his model boats that they had made together, "I want to play outside, but I have nothing to play with outside."

"Is this y-you trying to guilt me into muh-making you another paper boat?" Bill quirked an eyebrow at Georgie.

Georgie turned back towards Bill, "Is it working?"

"I guess s-so." Bill groaned as he sat up, "Pass me my sk-sketchbook." Georgie quickly obliged and ran to get Bill's blue sketchbook.

Georgie watched as Bill tore a page out and folded it in ways Georgie wasn't sure how he even managed to do. Bill was always so good at origami. In Georgie's eyes Bill was capable of anything. Georgie turned to the window and watched the rain fall, "I won't get in trouble for going out alone, will I?"

"No." Bill replied with a small smile, “I wuh-went outside a-alone all the time when I was y-your age. 

Georgie turned back to the window. The windows were slightly foggy, the perfect condition for drawing on them. Georgie drew a smiley face with his finger before turning back to Boll, "Are you  _ sure  _ I won't get in trouble Bill?"

"Don't be a wuh-wuh-wuss. I'd come with you if I weren't," Bill paused for a dramatic cough, on purpose, into his hand, "Dying."

Georgie sighed as he pushed himself away from the window and over to Bill, "You  _ aren't _ dying."

"You didn't see the vuh-vomit coming out of my nose this morning?" Bill asked as he gestured to the trash bin next to his bed where he was supposed to throw up in case he were to get sick.

"That's  _ disgusting _ ." Georgie groaned at Bill's teasing.

"Okay...." Bill paused as he looked down at the semi finished boat, "Go get the wax."

Georgie froze watching the door from the corner of his eye, "In the cellar?"

"You want it to fl-float, don't you?" Bill asked.

Georgie sighed before moving to leave, "Fine" he aggressively grabbed his walkie talkie off Bill's dresser before leaving the room.

Georgie walked down the stairs and passed his mother, Sharon Denbrough, who was playing Für Elise on the piano for what would be the last time, little did the Denbrough Family know what was coming for their youngest member and that they’re lives would be flipped completely upside down in less than 40 minutes.

Georgie seemingly walked by unnoticed by his mother. He continued through the kitchen to the cellar. The door was closed and seemingly glared over the little boy as he looked up at the door before slowly opening the door. He stared down the steps breathing heavily. The cellar was always terrifying to Georgie. He didn't like spiders and there always seemed to be spiders down there. It also flooded when it rained too hard. It would probably start to flood soon because of the heavy rain that has been pouring down for days now. Georgie also knew that monsters usually lived in basements.

Suddenly the walkie talkie Georgie had stuffed in his pocket made a screech and Bill's voice came through, "Georgie, hurry up." Georgie quickly moved to the light switch. He flipped it on and the light didn't come on. He flipped a few more times and still nothing. He realized that he would be stuck in the darkness.

He slowly made his way down the stairs. He was careful to not make any sudden movements as he looked around the dark cellar. He took a deep breath before walking to the shelf. He shuffled things around before he found the wax. He pulled the box off the shelf and stopped for a second to stare at a creepy looking mask stuck behind the wax. He shuddered at the sight of it before turning towards the stairs.

Georgie froze when he saw what appeared to be eyes staring at him from under the steps. He took shaky breaths trying to keep from crying. He grabbed a flashlight off the shelf where he got the wax and quickly shone it at the eyes staring at him. He was expecting to see a monster. His monster turned out to be stray light bulbs on a shelf.

There was a sudden crash in the cellar. Georgie didn’t spend time investigating the sound and opted to run as quickly as he could up the stairs to Bill's room. He was done with the cellar and wasn't coming back down there again today. If Bill asked, he'd refuse to, Bill himself will have to go put the wax back.

____

Bill had melted the wax for Georgie’s boat using a candle. He used an old paint brush that had old paint dried within it’s bristles and bristles that stuck out in odd directions. He painted the wax on in even strokes and watched the wax dry within seconds. Georgie was right behind him watching with great interest, he’s always loved watching his brother work on things. Bill smiled at Georgie before he handed the boat over to his little brother. 

“Th-There you go. Shuh-She’s all yours Captain.” Bill chirped. 

“She?” Georgie questioned with a tilt of his head. 

“You always call b-b-boats she.” Bill explained. 

“She.” Georgie repeated, “Thanks Billy.” Georgie gave his big brother a hug. Bill gave Georgie a tight squeeze before pulling away. The brothers shared a small laugh before Georgie skipped out of the room, “See you later! Bye!” Georgie called over his shoulder. 

If only Bill had known that that would be the last time he would ever see his baby brother.

____

Georgie was so excited. He smiled through the house donning his bright yellow rain jacket. It was his favorite coat because it was yellow and yellow was Georgie’s absolute favorite color.

He stepped out in the rain. It wasn’t raining as hard as it had been and Georgie found it the perfect amount of rain for him to play outside in. He and Bill played outside the last time it rained, that time Richie Tozier-Wheeler and his little sister Holly had joined the brothers. Georgie regarded the memory fondly. Holly Tozier-Wheeler was his best friend, he’d ask her to come play but he knew she wouldn’t really want to play out in the rain just with him, it was more fun with their brothers anyways. 

Georgie turned back to the house and saw Bill watching him from the window of his room, “Be careful.” Bill’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. Georgie gave his brother a small nod before he placed his boat in water running down the road.

It quickly picked up speed, so the little boy had to run to keep up. It was going so fast. Georgie just wished Bill could come out and see it. Georgie thinks it’s faster then the last boat they made, the  _ S.S. Denbrough _ . He’d have to keep the boat to show Bill later, he knew Bill would be so proud of his work. 

Georgie joyfully ran beside the boat as it bobbed through the water. He jumped off the sidewalk into the puddles before hopping back on the sidewalk. He kept jumping down. He loved jumping in puddles, especially when Bill was there. They’d have competitions to see who could make the bigger splash, it was always Bill. 

Georgie’s boat was running toward two sawhorses that read ‘ _ Derry Public Works _ ’. Georgie ducked below the first sawhorse but misjudged the second one and ended up running straight into it.

His head bounced off the sawhorse with a loud thud. Georgie groaned at the throbbing in his forehead from hitting his head. He quickly tried to shake it off as he realized his boat was sailing away. He stumbled up and ran as fast as he could to keep up with the speeding boat. 

But it just kept getting closer and closer to the storm drain on the corner of Jackson and Witchham. It hit a rock in the road before spinning into the drain. 

“No!” Georgie called out. He dropped to his knees in front of the drain looking for the boat, “Bill’s going to kill me.” He whined when he didn’t see it. He leaned closer to the drain as he looked for his lost boat.

All he saw was darkness and a pair of orange eyes. Georgie jumped back as he realized that there was something in the drain.

“Hiya Georgie.” IT said as it stepped out of the darkness into the light where Georgie could see it’s face. It was a clown. A clown that almost reminded Georgie of Ronald McDonald. Georgie looked into the clowns blue eyes, he could have sworn the clowns eyes were orange...maybe it was a trick of the light. How bad could the clown be? It’s eyes were the same color as his brother’s, “What a nice boat.” IT said, “Do you want it back?”

“Um…” Georgie hesitated, “Yes please.”

“You look like a nice boy.” IT said, “I bet you have a lot of friends.”

“Three. But my brother’s my best best.” Georgie replied. 

“Where’s he?” IT asked. 

“In bed…” Georgie said, “Sick.”

“I bet I can cheer him up.” IT said as spit ran down his chin, “I’ll give him a ballon. Do you want a ballon too, Georgie?” IT asked. 

“I’m not supposed to take things from strangers.” Georgie said unsure. 

“Oh…” IT trailed off, “Well I’m Pennywise, the Dancing Clown.” Pennywise said, “‘Pennywise, meet Georgie?’ ‘Georgie, meet Pennywise.” The clown introduced. Georgie giggled at the clowns antics, “we’re not strangers now are we Georgie?”

Georgie nodded before asking the question that’s been burning in his mind, “What are you doing in the  _ sewers _ ?”

“A storm blew me away, blew the whole circus away.” Pennywise chuckled slightly, “Do you smell the circus Georgie?” Pennywise asked. Georgie looked skeptically into the sewer at the clown, “There’s peanuts...and Cotton Candy… and hotdogs…..aaannnd…” Pennywise trailed off like he was thinking. 

“Popcorn?” Georgie offered.

“Popcorn!” Pennywise exclaimed, “is that your favorite Georgie?”

“Uh-huh.”Georgie giggled slightly. 

“Mine too!” Pennywise laughed again, “Because they pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!”

Georgie started giggling along with the clown as he joined in his own little, “Pop!” 

Georgie’s giggles continued. He failed to notice Pennywise had stopped laughing and was instead staring off into space seemingly. His eyes were facing different directions while a string of spit dropped down from his mouth.

“I should get going now.” Georgie nervously said. 

“Oh…” Pennywise sounded sad, “Without your boat?” He asked as he held the boatin question up so Georgie could see, “You don’t want to loose it Georgie. Bill’s going to kill you.” Georgie sat in silence. Bill would be really upset that Georgie lost the boat. After all the little boy had made Bill make the boat while he was sick, “Here...Take it.” Pennywise prompted, “Take it Georgie.”

Georgie decided to go for it. He shuffled closer to the drain and reached in. He failed to notice Pennywise’s eyes changing color he was so focused on getting his boat back. His fingers brushed the side of the paper boat when suddenly the clown surged forward. It had Georgie’s arm in its grasp and pulled him further into the sewers. Out of his peripheral vision Georgie saw the clown morph into something sinister. IT had rows and rows of sharp teeth. 

IT growled before launching onto Georgie’s right arm, ripping it off in one movement. It released Georgie for a moment giving the big enough time to throw himself back away from the drain. He whimpered at the sharp pain in what was left as his arm as he tried to crawl away. But it wasn’t enough. IT had reached out of the sewer with a white gloved hand that kept on extending outward to Georgie. IT wrapped it’s hand around Georgie’s ankle before yanking the boy out of the street and into the sewer leaving a puddle of blood mixed with the rain water as the only evidence that Georgie was there. 

“BILLY!” Georgie’s voice echoed through the sewer moments before the boy was gone forever.


	2. The Boys (and girls) Of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Losers Club and the Party are out for summer break.

**Chapter 2:** The Boys (and girls) of Summer

**_Friday, June 16_ **

Derry was an overall small town. If you were to drive across the town it would take you at most 20 minutes. If you were to go East you’d end up at Hawkins Lab. It sits right on the border of Hawkins and Derry. The Byers family as well as the Harringtons live not even a mile away on the Derry side of town. 

Mike Hanlon lived on the other side of town on his family farm. He lived on the far West side of town where the farmland was located. There were multiple farms there. The Wright Farm and the McCorkle farm that were primarily for pumpkins. Then there were the Bowers Farm and the Hanlon Farm. 

To put it bluntly, they hated each other. The Bowers were extremely racist towards the Hanlon family. Henry Bowers would Bully Mike all the time. He didn’t know any limits and if an evil thought popped into his head his first reaction is do it. That’s why everyone was so scared of him. He was unpredictable. 

Mike has been practicing avoiding Bowers for his whole life and has come up with ways to avoid the boy. That limits what Mike does and means that on Friday evenings when Mikes given the day off by his grandfather he asks him for more work. It’s usually picking crops or feeding the livestock. 

Mikes never been asked to kill the sheep before. The thought of doing something like that makes him sick to his stomach, for starters he’s vegetarian. The thought of killing something that will be eaten makes him sick. 

Mike physically shook as he held the bolt gun up toward the sheep’s head. His breath was deep and jagged as he stared at the helpless sheep in front of him with its yellow eyes. 

“Go on Mike.” His grandfather, Leroy Hanlon, urged, “Pull it. Now Mike.”

Mike felt the sweat beading up in his forehead and shivered as Leroy yanked the bolt gun from Mike's hand and shot the sheep with one swift movement, “You need to start taking more responsibility around here Mike.” Leroy scolded, “Your dad was younger than you when he-“

“I’m not my dad.” Mike immediately shouted back. He’s always being compared to his father. A man he barely got to know. He was left an orphan when he was only 4 years old, “Okay?”

“Fine.” Leroy sighed, “look at me son.” Mike stayed in place, “Look at me.” Mike slowly turned around to face his grandfather, “There are two places you can be in this world.” He said sternly, “You can be out here like us or you can be in there.” He pointed to the sheeps, “like them, You waste time hemming and hawing and someone else is going to make that decision for you. Except you won’t know it until that bolt gun is between your eyes.” Leroy poked Mike on his forehead to emphasize his point before he walked away leaving Mike alone. 

____

Will couldn’t peel his eyes away from the clock. It was only minutes away from summer vacation and the clock seemed to have froze. Beside him Dustin and Max were deep in a discussion about their high scores at the arcade. He had zoned out about 10 minutes ago and had been doodling but had stopped to watch the clock tick down to the last minute of school. 

“Byers?!” Dustin hollered out to capture Will's attention. 

“Yeah?” Will asked, finally pulling his eyes away from the clock which Dustin spared only a quick glance to. 

“We have 5 minutes left. 5 minutes which will feel like 5 hours if you keep staring at the clock.” Dustin stated in a matter of fact tone, “We need you to settle our debate.”

“Okay?” Will asked, “I haven’t been listening, by the way.”

“Kinda figured,” Dustin sighed, “Who’s better at arcade games, me or Max?”

Will blinked, “...Max?” He asked, it was really obvious. 

“No!” Dustin shouted, “I just beat her score! It took me months but I finally beat Dig Dug!”

“Why not try a game that neither of you have played…” Will trailed off, “Like Street Fighter you’ll have a clear winner and loser.”

“True, but Mike’s brother never leaves the machine alone.” Dustin sighed. Which was very much true. Richie Tozier-Wheeler was a force to be reckoned with, “He’d never let us play.”

“Just tell him the winner will play against him or something. He’s not that much of a jerk.” Will stated as he glanced back at the clock Only seconds left. 

“You’re on Henderson.” Max declared as the bell rang liberating the kids of the school year. 

“I’m so kicking your ass Mayfield.” Dustin glared at Max before he stood up. The 3 of them walked out of their, English class for the last time into the crowded halls. The trio shouldered past the other kids as they made their way to Mike’s and Will’s lockers, the two of them had been locker neighbors. They passed the Bowers gang and shivered, feeling bad for the ‘new kid’ who had almost got Bowers held back, again. 

The Bowers gang didn’t pay them much mind and were instead watching intently as Mike’s brother and his friends walked by them. Something that Will was secretly grateful for since Bowers seemed to torment both him and Lucas the most out of the Party. 

The trio stood around the lockers waiting for Mike and Lucas to exit their advanced math class. A minute later the two came bustling down the halls. 

“Hey.” Mike said as they got closer. Lucas and Max, having just got back together after their 5th break up, were holding hands, “Everyone ready for summer?” Mike asked as he watched Max and Lucas hold hands publicly like that when he and El can’t even leave her cabin. 

“I’m so excited!” Dustin laughed as he led the group in the considerably less crowded hall. It only took a minute for everyone to load out of the school leaving it deserted for the summer. 

“When do you leave?” Lucas asked. Dustin was about to leave for 2 weeks to a science camp in Portland. 

“Tomorrow morning.” Dustin smiled, “Don’t miss me too much Max. When I come back we’re settling this whole arcade thing once and for all.”

Max rolled her eyes, “anyone else doing anything this summer?” She asked. 

“I’ve got a family picnic at some point.” Lucas offered. 

“I’m going to El’s.” Mike smiled a small dopey smile as he thought about his girlfriend.

“Could you guys be anymore fucking boring?” Dustin asked, “None of you are going on vacation or anything?”

Max shrugged, “I wanted to go back to California to see my dad but I don’t think it’s happening, my mom’s being a bitch about it.” 

“That sucks,” Lucas offered Max a small smile as he squeezed her hand, “I'm sorry about your mom.”

“Don’t be, I’m used to it.” Max said, “I’ll just be practicing my skateboarding and beating Dustin’s high score. Though I’ll have that last thing done by next week.” Max joked. 

“Don’t you fucking dare.” Dustin warned, “It took me the whole damn year to beat you! Do you know how much money I went through for that?” He whined.

Max just softly laughed before turning to Will, “Are you doing anything this summer Byers?”

Will shook his head in response, “Maybe we can plan a campaign?” Will softly suggested, but his suggestion fell on deaf ears because the Party had moved on and Lucas was telling everyone how his family would probably go on a road trip.

Will frowned to himself. He was used to it. He was usually quiet so when he does say something people don’t realize to listen for him. He hated that he was used to it, because all Will wants is to feel like part of the group again. They hadn’t completely healed from their past wounds yet and it was affecting the dynamic. 

It didn’t help that kids in Derry were going missing left and right. They were all thinking the same thing. Betty Ripsom was the last straw for them. 

Will had actually been friends with her, they had danced together at the snowball. Though Will didn’t like Betty like that, it felt horrible seeing her go missing. It felt horrible to watch her mother watch helplessly outside the school trying to find her. It made him think of his own mother doing the same thing only a year and half ago. 

“Oh my god.” Max murmured, “That’s so sad.” The group turned to see Mrs. Ripsom standing in front of a police car, officer Bower’s car, scanning the sea of students for her daughter. 

“Guys,” Dustin started, “You don’t think-“

“It’s not.” Will cut him off. The party all turned to the short boy with a questioning gaze, “Trust me, I have a...connection...of sorts to  _ there _ . Whatever is going on isn’t the Mindflayer or Demogorgon.”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max all looked ready to protest, “Will’s right.” Mike interjected, “Plus El closed the gate. Both of those things are dead.”

“Sorry, I just thought that I’d say what was on all our minds.” Dustin frowned as the group all mounted their bikes and took off towards their homes. 

Will just hopes things will be normal again soon as he stared at the 7 p.m. curfew announcement. He had the sinking feeling that this summer is going to be hell. 

____

Eddie Kaspbrak liked to think of himself as a well educated individual. So when Bill softly asked what exactly happens at Bar Mitzvahs, since they were all invited to Stanley Uris’s, right as the bell rang he knew the exact answer. 

“Okay, so there’s this church full of Jews right?”

“Ruh-right.” Bill agreed. 

“And Stan has to take this super Jewy test.” Eddie continued. 

“Buh-but how does it w-work?” Bill asked. 

“They slice the tip of his dick off.” Eddie shuddered. 

“But then Stan will have nothing left!” Richie exclaimed. 

Eddie snorted, “that’s true.”

Behind them Stan had left his advanced math class and ran up to them, “wait up, you guys!” Stan yelled as he ran up to catch up with the others. 

“Hey, Stan, what happens at the Bar Mitzvah anyways?” Bill asked, “Eds says they slice the tip of your d-d-d-dick off.” Stan rolled his eyes, because of course Eddie said that. 

“Yeah, and I think the rabbi is gonna pull down your pants turn to the crowd and say, ‘where’s the beef?’” Richie chimed in. Bill and Eddie both laughed at that. 

Stan signed, “At the Bar Mitzvah, I read from the Torah, then I make my speech and suddenly I become a man.”

“I could think of funner ways to become a man.” Richie added.

“ _ ‘More fun’  _ you mean.” Stan corrected. Beside them in the halls was the Bowers gang leaning against the lockers watching them walk by. 

“Oh shit.” Richie whispered to himself as he passed. Patrick Hockstetter watched them walk by and licked his lips at the thought of what he could do to them, “You think they’ll sign my yearbook?” Richie asked once they were a good distance from the bullies, “‘Dear Richie, sorry I took a hot steam in your backpack last spring. Have a good summer!’”

Stan wanted to roll his eyes. It was dangerous saying those things out loud at school someone could hear them and word would get back around to Bowers. They nearly killed Dustin Henderson last February after he made a comment about Henry not being the smartest. The only reason Dustin wasn’t in the hospital for a month was because Steve Harrington came around and acted like a bodyguard for him, not that Henry or his gang was afraid of Steve or anything, they just didn’t fuck with the older high school students, it wasn’t as fun for them. 

The group kept moving forward out of the school. Greta Keene and Stacy Albright both shouldered past the small group nearly knocking Stan to the ground. He cast a nasty glare over his shoulder before following his friends out of the school to the trash cans at the front of the school. 

Bill took the lead and moved to dump his bag first and was quickly followed by the other 3. Once the bags were empty they pulled them away from the trash cans. Stan let out a grateful sigh, “Best feeling ever.”

“Oh yeah?” Richie challenged, “Try tickling your pickle for the first time.”

The group all threw their now empty bags onto their backs, “What do you guys want to do tomorrow?” Eddie asked. 

“You serious?” Richie asked, “I start my training.”

“Wait...what training?” Eddie was genuinely confused. 

“For Street Fighter.” Richie said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, and for him it was.

“Ugh, is that how you want to spend your summer? Inside an arcade?” Eddie was ready to give Richie a lecture about all the germs inside arcades. 

“Beats spending it inside your mother!” Richie turned to Stan and held his hand up for a high five, “oooooh”

Stan harshly grabbed Richie’s arm and pulled it down, “What if we go to the quarry? Or the ice cream place at the mall? My sister just got a job there.” Stan suggested.

“Guys. We have the b-b-b-b-buh-Barrens.” Bill interjected. 

Stan gave Bill a small nod, “right.”

“Betty Ripsom’s mom.” Eddie suddenly said. His gaze was cast behind Stan. They could see Mrs. Ripsom standing in front of Officer Bowers’s cop car looking around for her daughter. 

“Does she really think Betty’s going to be leaving the school?” Stan asked. 

“I don’t know.” Eddie said quietly, “She must think Betty’s been hiding in Home Ec for the last few weeks.”

“You think they’ll actually find her?” Stan barely said above a whisper. 

“Sure.” Richie said, “In a ditch all decomposed and covered in maggots smelling like Eddie’s mom’s underwear.”

“Beep beep Richie.” Eddie shivered at the thought, “that’s fucking disgusting.” He added quietly. 

“She’s not dead. She’s m-m-m-muh-missing.” Bill interjected. 

“Right. Sorry Bill.” Richie corrected himself, “she’s missing.” The four boys turned to leave. They were meeting with Richie’s brother and his friends to bike home. Richie sighed before speaking again, “You know the barrens aren’t that bad. Who doesn’t love splashing around in shitty water?” Right as he said that a hand shot out and grabbed Richie’s back. He was pulled backwards and pushed into Stan, knocking them both to the ground. Richie didn’t realize who it was until after he was on the ground. It was Henry Bowers and his gang. 

Stan laid sprawled out on his back. His kippah has been knocked off his head and he reached to grab it but Patrick had beat him to it, grabbing the gray knitted kippah and cruelly saying, “Nice frisbee flamer.” Before he threw the kippah like a frisbee onto a passing bus.

Reginald, or rather, ‘Belch’ Huggins had come up behind Eddie and belched into the hypochondriac’s ear before shoving him. Eddie gagged as the smell of beans and onions on Belch’s breath wafted into his face. 

Henry shoved past Bill and Eddie, shouldering Bill was he muttered, “Loser.” Under his breath as him and his goons started to walk away. 

“You s-s-suck, Bowers!” Bill yelled out. 

“Shut up Bill!” Eddie warned as they turned back towards the four boys. 

“Did you s-s-s-s-say something B-b-b-b-b-Billy?” Henry asked in a mock stutter, “You got a free ride this year ‘cause of what happened to your little brother.” Henry laughed, “Ride’s over Denbrough.” Henry warned before he lifted his gaze and made eye contact with his father Oscar, or ‘Butch’, Bowers. His father shot him a glare as a warning, “This summer is going to be a hurt train for you and your faggot friends.” Henry said as a warning before licking his hand and wiping it against Bill’s face.

Henry and his goons finally turned away and left for Belch’s car where Victor Criss and Troy Walsh stood waiting for them. The group silently watched as the Bowers gang drove away. 

Eddie quietly reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a disinfectant wipe and offered it to Bill. Bill took it and wiped the slobber from his face. 

“I wish he’d go missing.” Richie said. 

“He’s probably the one doing it.” Eddie solmely said. 

____

Beverly never considered herself unlike any other girl at school. She got up every morning, showered, brushed her hair, dressed in a pretty dress, cleaned under her fingernails, she attempted to do her makeup. She didn’t understand what she did differently than the other girls other than being more on the poorer side and her father being a janitor. 

She didn’t do anything to make herself stand out and she didn’t have any friends but for some reason the terror cousins, or Greta Keene and Stacey Albright, loved to make her life a living hell. 

They were nowhere on the level of Henry Bowers and his gang, but close. Beverly would openly admit that she’s come close to slapping both girls in the face. Max Mayfield has actually done so, on 3 separate occasions.

Bev really admired the other redhead. She thought that they would probably get along great if they tried to be friends. 

Bev lit her cigarette as the bell rang signaling the end of the school year. She had been hiding away in the bathroom for the past 30 minutes because apparently Greta was angry at her because she heard a rumor Bev slept with her boyfriend, or rather ex boyfriend now, Troy, who hadn’t denied the rumors. 

Bev was disgusted with everyone at the school because they believe everything. Last week everyone thought she slept with James Dante, and the week before that it was Victor Criss and the list kept going and going. A list that was just rumors. God help her if her father heard the rumors. 

Bev knew the confrontation between Greta was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Greta wouldn’t leave until she found Bev. 

So when Bev heard the heavy angry footsteps followed by the nasally voice of Stacey Albright shouting at some 6th grade to leave she knew Greta had found her, granted she wasn’t hiding very well. 

She heard rustling of the trash bag and the sound of the sink turning on before Beverly heard the angry growl followed by a loud thud against the stall door. 

“Are you in there by yourself? Beaver-ly? Or do you have half the guys in there with you?” Greta said before adding, “huh slut?” Bev numbly extinguishes her cigarette against the stall finding an odd comfort in the way it sizzled out, “We know you're in there, you little shit! We can smell you.”

“No wonder you don’t have any friends.” Stacey snorted. The faucet stopped running and the 

“Which is it Greta?” Bev asked, “Am l a slut or a little shit?” Bev sighed, “Make up your mind.”

“Your trash.” Greta said. Bev heard the thump of the trash can hitting the ground and knew what they were going to do, “We just wanted to remind you.”

Bev quickly grabbed her bag and held it over her head in time to cover herself from the oncoming trash Sally Mueller had hauled up and over the stall, “She’s such a loser.” Stacey laughed

Bev repressed a gag as the smell of the trash, “At least you’ll smell better.” Greta mocked, “ugh, gross.”

“Let’s go girls.” Beverly heard the girls footsteps retreating and Greta muttered, “Have a nice summer Beaver-ly.”

“Pathetic.” Bev heard Stacey whisper before the girls disappeared from the bathroom. 

She finally stepped out of the stall and was thankful none of the garbage had gotten tangled in her long hair. She shook off her bag and slowly trudged through the school opting to take the back entrance because the last thing she wanted to do was get catcalled by the Bowers gang on her way home.

She opened the door and was about to continue down the stairs when she saw a boy in her class, a little bit more on the pudgier side balancing both a project and his bike in his hands, blocking the steps. She waited a moment or two but the boy seemed to be entranced by the music he was listening to through his Walkman. Bev’s patience was running thin, she smelled and just wanted to get home to get a nice bath. 

“Are you going to let me go by?” Bev asked. The boy whipped around and was staring at Bev in shock, “Or is there a password or something?”

“Oh…” the boy was obviously flustered, “Uh sorry.” He said as he turned to move away but fumbled and ended up dropping his model project of the standpipe on the ground and fumbled around to gather it back together.

“Sorry isn’t a…” Bev trailed off as she watched the boy move around clumsily, “password.” The boy dropped his bike in the process of picking up his broken project, “Henry and his gang is over by the west entrance.” Bev offered, “So you should be fine.”

“Oh, I wasn’t-“ the boy quickly started to say.

“Everyone knows he’s looking for you.” Bev sighed. The whole school heard about the fat kid who got Henry stuck in summer school, and there wasn’t many fat kids at Derry Middle, so it was obvious this was the boy Henry was on the hunt for. The boy sighed in defeat. Bev offered him a smile before stepping forward and grabbing his headphones, “what are you listening to?” She kindly asked as she grabbed for the headphones. 

She gently put them on her head and was pleasantly surprised when the sweet voices of Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood filled her ears. She smiled sweetly at the boy who was now bright red out of embarrassment, “New Kids on the Block.” Bev smiled. 

“I don’t even like them.” The boy said quickly, “I was just-“

“Wait.” Bev said, “You're the new kid, right?” She lightly snorted, “Now I get it.”

“There’s nothing to get.” The boy was confused. 

“I’m just messing with you.” Bev said as she placed the headphones on top of the boy’s hair. He quickly started to pull them down to his neck, “I’m Beverly Marsh.” Bev introduced herself. She really liked how sweet this boy was.

“Yeah, I know… we’re in the same class.” The boy said, “Social Studies and you were…” the boy trailed off, “I’m Ben. But mostly everyone calls me…”

“The new kid.” Bev finished for Ben, “Well, Ben, there are worse things to be called.” She had noticed his yearbook hanging out of his bag as soon as she walked up. She hadn’t signed anyone’s yearbook nor did anyone sign hers, “Here.” She said as she stepped down on the step next to him and reached for his yearbook, “Let me sign this.”

She opened the yearbook and found the signature pages empty. She felt a small twinge in her heart at the thought of someone so sweet not having any friends to sign it. She didn’t let it show on her face as she signed her name followed by 3 hearts. 

She didn’t fail to notice the heart eyes Ben was giving her. She found it endearing, “Stay cool, Ben from Sosh class.” She said as she handed back his yearbook and walked away. 

“Oh yeah.” Ben stumbled out, “You too Beverly.”

“Hang tough, new kid on the block.” Beverly called over her shoulder as she walked through the field. 

There was a beat of silence and Beverly heard Ben call out, “Please don’t go girl.” In the quietest shout. 

She smiled to herself and continued on her way home. Maybe this summer won’t be that bad.

____

Chief Jim Hopper has been busy at work almost everyday since October when the ‘first’ kid went missing. Will Byers was always the first kid who went missing. Georgie Denbrough went missing 11 months after Will. 

When the call came in for the Denbrough boy being missing Hopper had a flashback to Joyce Byers sitting in his office frantically telling him her son hadn’t come home the night before. Hopper’s mind instantly went to something from the upside down returning. A month after the Denbrough boy’s disappearance Will had gotten possessed by what the kids called ‘The Mind Flayer’. But they had dealt with the Mind Flayer then, El closed the gate and the hive mind died. 

Whatever was happening in Derry wasn’t from the Upside down. Hopper couldn’t decide if that calmed him or worried him. El’s offered to help find the kids with her powers, but no luck. It’s like they’ve fallen off the face of the earth.

He’s got angry parents and an angry town. They claim he’s done nothing to stop the monster killing their children, but they are so wrong. He’s set up a town curfew, 7 p.m., but it’s going to be much harder to keep it in order since summer is starting. 

Hopper sighed as he flipped the hamburgers he had been preparing on the stove top for him and his adoptive daughter, El.

El sat patiently at the dinner table for Hoper “Tough day?” El asked softly.

“You have no idea kid.” Hopper shook his head in shame as he checked the temperatures on the burgers. They were ready. He plated them and brought them over for him and El at the table. 

“Want to talk about it?” El asked as she placed her cheeseburger on the bun and put a small amount of ketchup on it. 

“I don’t know kid.” Hopper admitted as he loaded his burger up with onions and tomatoes, “Nothing is getting any better.”

“I can try to find her.” El offered. The ‘her’ she referred to was Betty Ripsom. Betty was 14 years old, the same age as El and her friends, and had been missing for 3 weeks now. 

“We already tried.” Hopper reminded. 

“I feel useless.” El frowned. Finding people was her thing. She doesn’t know why it’s not working to find the missing kids.

“Kid, the day you're useless is the day pigs fly.” Hopper said in a matter of fact tone and took a bite of his burger. 

El hesitated before asking, “Did I… did I do this?”

“No.” Hopper replied easily. 

“But I...I opened the gate. What if something got out that we didn’t know about?” El asked. 

“Then we’d do what we always do.” Hopper stated.

“You always say the gate opening wasn’t my fault… but it is.”

“ _ They _ made you do it.” Hopper said, “Did you want to open the gate?” El shook her head, “Then it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

“But I do now.” El said with a small smile, “Thanks Hop.” She felt so much better about it. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but she thinks about Will and Barbara, and then she thinks about Bob. All those innocent people hurt or killed because of her mistake. It makes her feel horrible. 

Hopper helps. Mike helps. Hell, the whole Party helps, although El isn’t completely sure what they mean when they call themselves the Party. 

“Hey Hop?” El said as she finished her cheeseburger. 

“Yeah kid?” 

“It’s the last day of school, they’re on…” she paused to think of what it was called. 

“Summer Vacation.” Hopper supplied. He knew what she was going to ask. Mike had been over almost everyday for the past 2 months. 

“Yes, summer vacation.” El nodded, “Can Mike possibly come over again? He doesn’t have school now.”

“You know the rules.” Hopper sighed. He reminded her every time before Mike came over. 

“Keep the door 3 inches open.” El recited, “And no means no.”

“Yes, I gueeeesss…” he drew the word out before sighing, “Mike can come over.” El smiled so brightly. Hopper always thought of them having a type of puppy love. Mike was the first person to ever show her compassion. He was her first friend. El was the first girl to not turn up her nose at Mike. Hopper honestly didn’t see it lasting forever so he humored them for now, “I’ll have to pick him up though, I don’t want him walking alone in the woods while there’s a killer on the loose.”

“Okay, thank you Hop!” El exclaimed as she jumped up and ran to the phone to call Mike immediately. 

Hopper sunk further into his chair. His temper was wearing thin, he wasn’t getting any answers about the killer and he could only take so much of Mike at a time. It was going to be a long summer.


	3. The Barrens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill, Eddie, Stan, and Richie go to the Barrens in search of Georgie and find something, or rather someone, else.

**Chapter 3:** The Barrens

**_Monday, June 19_ **

It took a few days, but Bill, Eddie, Richie, and Stan, all agreed to go to the Barrens to search for Bill’s brother on Monday instead of Saturday.

Bill was anxious to say the least. He wanted to find his brother  _ alive _ . But something about going to the Barrens made it feel too real. Like Georgie was really dead and Bill was just leading his friends on a wild goose chase. 

Bil had tried to convince his father to go down to the Barrens on Saturday. It didn’t turn out well for Bill. His father had nearly grounded him for taking his map from his office for his ‘silly ideas’. Bill’s the only one still looking for Georgie and he will continue to do so until his little brother is found. They found Will Byers alive after they thought he was dead,  _ after _ they found his body. So why can’t Georgie be found too?

Richie and Bill were supposed to meet up at Eddie’s house to pick him up and get snacks. They were invited in and immediately ushered into the kitchen area where they had planned to raid the pantry. 

“You can take anything  _ but _ the Delicious Deals. My mom loves them.” Eddie explained. Richie grabbed for the Milkduds and stuffed them in his bag as Bill grabbed marshmallows, “Hey.” Eddie said to catch Bill’s attention, “First you told us the Barrens, now your saying the Sewers. I mean...what if we get caught?”

“We  _ won’t _ Eds.” Bill said in a matter of fact tone as Richie moved to the medicine cabinets,“The s-sewers are p-p-puh-public works. Wuh-We’re the puh-public aren’t we?.”

Richie snorted as he peered into the medicine cabinet, “Hey Eddie. These  _ your _ birth control pills?” 

“Yeah, and I’m saving it for your sister-“

“Nancy? Good luck with that, her and Jonathan Byers have been dating since November.” Richie laughed. 

Eddie sighed before walking over to slam the cabinet shut, “This is private stuff dipshit.”

Richie put his hand up in surrender before walking out of the room to the front door. Eddie and Bill quickly followed, though Eddie paused for a moment to check his fanny pack for his inhaler.

The boys were stopped on their way out from Eddie’s mom calling out for him from her La-Z-Boy which sat in the living room of the house, “Eddie-Bear.” Eddie had almost made it out the door, “Where are you boys off too in such a rush?”

“Um…” Bill trailed off, “J-j-juh-just my backyard Mrs. K. I got a nuh-new…”

“A new croquet set.” Richie supplied, “Jeez, spit it out B-B-B-B-Bill.” 

“Okay.” Sonia said, “Oh, and sweetie, don’t go rolling around on the grass.” Sonia told her son as she dug a gunk of dirt from under her nails before flicking it away, “Especially if it’s been just cut.” She finally looked up and looked Eddie in the eyes, “You know how bad your allergies can get.”

“Yes momma.” Eddie said before turning to push Richie and Bill out the door, “Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Sonia called out. 

Eddie rolled his eyes before walking over and giving his obese mother a kiss on the cheek and walking back to his friends. Richie stifled a laugh, “Do you want one from me too Mrs. K?” Richie asked before Eddie harshly shoved him out of the door. Eddie doesn’t remember a time when his mother wasn’t overbearing. It’s become even more noticeable since kids started going missing. 

____

The boys agreed to meet Stan outside his synagogue. Rabbi Donald Uris, Stan’s father, has had the boy cooped up almost the whole weekend practicing for his Bar Mitzvah. 

He was itching to hang out with his friends, but he also desperately didn’t want to go to the sewers. If there’s one thing Stan’s learned his lifetime, it’s that he can’t stand being dirty. He and his sister Robin learned that the hard way when Stan was only 4. Robin had always been a bit tomboyish and had been playing soccer since she was 5. The then 8 year old had taken upon herself to teach her little brother soccer as well. It only lasted about 3 minutes before clumsy toddler Stan had tripped and fell into a puddle of mud. Robin had expected him to stand right back up and keep going like she did, but the little boy had burst into tears. At first she thought he hurt himself when he fell, but he was upset because mud had gotten everywhere and all his clothes were ruined. 

About a week after the incident Donald and Andrea Uris had taken their son to a special doctor who had diagnosed Stan with OCD. That’s one of the few things Robin and Stan don’t have in common. Robin didn’t care if she was unorganized or dirty while Stan feels sick to the stomach at just the thought of being dirty. 

All the more reason why Stan didn’t want to go to the sewers, even if they were looking for Georgie. But he promised Bill he’d help look. Stan couldn’t abandon Bill, not after everyone in this town has moved on from Georgie. 

Stan sat on the steps of his synagogue waiting for the boys to arrive. He glanced at his watch to find that they were 5 minutes late. They were supposed to be there at 11:00 and it was now 11:05. He knew it was impractical to start worrying about where they were yet but his brain was frantically coming up with all the different possibilities as to why they are late. 

“HIYO SILVER AWAAYYY!” Stan heard yelled over the hill. He let out a breath of relief he didn’t realize he was holding as he saw his friends, or rather Bill, zoom down the hill before stopping in front of Stan. 

“Hey Stanny Urine.” Richie greeted, “Hope you didn’t miss us too much.”

“You guys don’t know how much of a relief it is to finally be leaving the Temple.” Stan said as he grabbed his bike from the bike post he had left it at this morning. The four boys began their trip down to the barrens. 

“Don’t go sentimental on us Stannabella.” Richie jokes. 

“I’m not,  _ Dickie _ ,” Stan retorted, making fun of Richie’s name as well, “I’m just glad to have a break from reading the Torah all day long, my dad is convinced I haven’t been studying so now he has me working double the amount so I won’t be an embarrassment.”

Bill felt a twinge in his heart. Stan finally gets a day off from his dad and Bill takes him to the sewers, “Are y-y-you not eh-eh-eh-improving?”

“I  _ feel _ like I am, but dad insists that I’m wrong. He’s just disappointed I’m not like Robin. She’s fluent in like 6 languages, meanwhile I’m barely bilingual.” Stan explained. 

“6?!” Eddie exclaimed. 

“English, Hebrew, Italian, French, Spanish, and Pig Latin.” Stan listened. He can speak English, obviously, and small bits of Hebrew and Italian from both languages being occasionally spoken in the house. Andrea Uris was of Italian descent and lived in Italy until she was 8 years old before moving to the United States. Donald Uris was of Israel descent. Though Donald himself never lived there, his parents did before moving to the U.S. Stan felt like he had so many standards he  _ had _ to live up to. 

“That’s insane, how did she pick up so many languages?” Eddie was dumbfounded. 

“It always came easily to her, she’s in band and has been since before I was adopted, so over 11 years.” Stan explained. It was no secret that Stan was adopted when he was about 16 months old, “She’s the smartest person I know, and the type of person I have to strive to be according to my father, not that I don’t want to be like my sister-“

“I totally get it. My parents are always telling me to be quieter and more like Mike. It’s really fucking annoying.” Richie chimed in before glancing at Bill to see him saddening because of them talking about their siblings and decided to change the subject, “Eddie, tell your mom I’m-“

“Beep Beep Richie.” Eddie growled before Richie could finish his more then likely offensive statement. Bill was relieved that they had stopped talking about their siblings. It was a sore spot for the 14 year old, and has been since his little brother went missing.

Bill tried to shrug the feeling off. He was leading the boys to the barrens. He needed to focus so he didn’t accidentally hurt his friends.

The four boys rode down the hill toward the southwest side of town. The Barrens were a big strip of land in Derry. The Kenduskeag stream runs through it and down to the Bellwood Quarry. There were two quarries in Derry, well technically 1 because the Sattler Quarry, where the police thought they found Will Byers body, is in Hawkins, but like the Byers house is right on the border line. The boys don’t dare venture out to that quarry knowing someone drowned there, their quarry was safe and familiar to them. 

“Ruh-race you guys t-t-to the k-Kissing bridge.” Bill challenged. 

“You're on, Denbrough.” Richie agreed. 

Bill took off, his bike silver was fast enough to beat the devil, and his best friends. He yelled out the only thing he could say without stuttering, “HIYO SILVER AWAAYYY!” 

____

“That’s poison ivy, that’s poison ivy, that’s poison ivy, and that’s poison ivy.” Stan rattled off as soon as his bike halted to a stop in front of the sewer drain. Bill was already standing at the entrance peering in. 

“Where?!” Eddie frantically said, “Where’s the poison ivy?!” 

Stan vaguely gestured to the plants in front him, “No where.” Richie said, “Not every fucking plant is poison ivy, Stanley.”

“Are you sure? Cause I’m starting to feel kinda itchy.” Eddie rambled, “And I don’t think that’s good for my-“

“Do you share a bathroom with your mom?” Richie asked as he followed Bill into the sewer drain. 

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“Then you probably have crabs.” Richie said. Bill took a couple of more steps into the drain peering around the corner. 

“That’s so  _ not _ funny.” Eddie's voice echoed through the drain. 

Richie stood right behind Bill. He turned toward Eddie and Stan who were both standing outside the drain at the entrance.

“Aren’t you guys coming in?” Richie asked. 

“Uh-uh.” Eddie said as he pointed to the murky water Bill and Richie were ankle deep in, “It’s greywater.”

“What the hell is greywater?” Richie asked. 

“It’s basically piss and shit.” Eddie put his hands up in defense as Bill stepped further in the drain, “I’m just telling you. You guys are splashing around in millions of gallons of Derry pee so-“ Richie picked up a stick that was floating in the murky water and sniffed it, “what are…. are you serious?!”

“It doesn’t smell like caca to me, señor.” Richie said in a Spanish accent.

“I can smell it from here.” Eddie wanted to gag. 

“It’s probably just your breath wafting back into your face.” Richie snorted at his own joke. 

Eddie scoffed, “Have you ever heard of a staph infection?!” He gestured wildly with his hand. 

“Oh I’ll show you a staph infection!” Richie exclaimed as he scooped up a gunk of trash with the stick. 

“This is so unsanitary, you’re literally-“ Eddie cut himself with a scream as Richie threw the trash at him. Stan rolled his eyes at the two, they always acted like this. 

From behind Richie, Bill kept searching the ground for anything of Georgie’s. He saw a once white converse shoe floating in the water. He slowly picked up and turned back to see Richie flinging trash at Eddie who was dodging it and throwing insults back at Richie, “Guys.” Bill called out. 

They immediately stopped and turned their attention to Bill. Stan’s eyes widened when he saw the shoe in Bill’s hand as he walked back to Richie. 

“Shit.” Stan’s voice cracked, “Don’t tell me that’s-“

“Guh-Georgie wore g-galoshes.” Bill said. 

“Then whose shoe is it…” Eddie trailed off. Richie took the shoe from Bill while Bill shone his flashlight on it. Written in big bulky letters was B. Ripsom.

“Betty Ripsom’s.” Richie said. The four boys felt the atmosphere around them shift.

“Oh, shit…oh, god...oh,  _ fuck _ .” Eddie cursed, “I don’t like this.”

“How do you think Betty feels?” Richie asked,”Running around these tunnels with only one shoe!” Richie joked as he hopped on one leg. His humor left him when he saw the look on Bill's face.

“What if she’s still here?” Stan asked. Bill and Richie both turned to look further in the tunnel as if they were checking for the missing girl behind them. 

“Eddie, come on!” Richie called for the petite boy. 

“I’m being serious guys, my mom will have an aneurysm if she finds out we’re playing down here.” Eddie was getting antsy.

“Bill?” Richie said asking without words what their next move was.

“If…I wuh-was Betty Ripsom I’d w-want us to f-f-find me…” Bill said before adding, “G-g-guh-Georgie too.”

“What if I don’t  _ want _ to find them?” Eddie asked in a small voice, “I mean, no offense, Bill, but I don’t want to end up like…” Eddie paused when he realized what he was about to say, “I don’t want to go missing either.”

“He has a point.” Stan agreed as he awkwardly shifted his weight. 

“Yuh-you too?” Bill was surprised, he could almost always count on Stan to be on his side.

“It’s summer.” Stan said, “We’re supposed to be having fun.” Stan looked at the floating trash in the grey water, “This  _ isn’t _ fun.” Bill turned to Richie. Richie just shrugged, “This is scary and...and disgusting.”

Suddenly from behind Stan and Eddie there was a huge splash. Stan jumped before whipping himself around to see a chubby boy in the water struggling to stand. He was bleeding profusely from his arms and from a cut across his forehead. The boy groaned as he fell in the water again accidentally swallowing some of the water and coughed trying to get it out of his mouth. 

“Holy shit.” Richie ran out of the tunnel to see what was happening, “What happened to you?”

The boy slowly turned to the small group of losers and muttered one word, “Bowers.”


	4. Ben Hanscom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben started the day off alone with no friends, but ends the day on the run from Henry Bowers and with 5 new friends.

**Chapter 4** : Ben Hanscom

**_Monday, June 19_ **

Ben’s been on constant alert since leaving school on Friday. Bowers was still looking for him. While Ben had planned on waiting it out in the comfort of his own home, Arlene Hanscom, Ben’s mother, had made it difficult to do that. She gave him a nice new watch so he’d always know what time it was. She told him to be home by 6:30 each day and if he wasn’t she was calling the police and having them look for him. 

She wanted him to go out. To be with his friends, but Ben didn’t have any friends. So he had to leave and go somewhere for the day. He decided on the library. Henry Bowers and his gang never go there, so the library was safe. Plus he wanted to continue his research project he started about Derry. 

It had started off small but has been growing more and more. There was always something off about this town ever since he moved here in November. He heard the whispers. He knew the rumors. He knew something was wrong in the town when kids kept going missing and his mother barely batted an eye. She’s mentioned it to Ben, she’s told him to stay safe and out of trouble, but that’s as far as that conversation went. 

Derry Public Library was safe. The people in the library were safe. Ms. Marissa was kind. She barely blinked an eye when Ben came in asking for anything on Old Derry. She liked seeing the kids so interested in learning. She watched as Ben settled down in a seat in the middle of the library as she scanned the shelves for the book he had asked for. 

Ben was making himself comfortable. He had big plans. He had purchased a postcard of the Derry Standpipe when he had arrived at the library that morning.

Beverly Marsh. Oh, how much Ben loved the girl. She was gorgeous inside and out. Ben thought back to all the things they learned about this year in English class. He wanted to write something special for her. 

He loved the poetry unit. In fact Mrs. Douglas, his teacher, told him he had a natural talent for writing poetry.

While Ben could write sonnets about Beverly and her eyes alone, he thought that he should do something short and sweet. A haiku. Haikus were one of Ben’s favorite types of poems. It had simple rules. 3 lines, 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. 

He got to work, drafting 10 different poems on loose leaf until he got it right. He felt satisfied with his final poem and wrote it on the postcard in sloppy short letters, trying to disguise his hand writing. 

_ Your hair is winter fire, _

_ January embers.  _

_ My heart burns there too. _

He signed it as a secret admirer. It was better if she thought someone else wrote it for her. She’d think some high schooler, probably a football player, wrote it for her. He didn’t care who she thought it was from as long as it made her feel special. 

Ms. Marrissa had finally located the book for Ben placing it on the table with a loud thud which startled the boy, “Found it.” She said, “Hey isn’t it summer vacation?” She asked, “I would have thought you’d like to take a break from the books.” 

“I like it here.” Ben quietly replied keeping his gaze down at the table.

“A boy should be spending his summer outside with friends, “ Ms. Marrissa said. She was saying this not to embarrass Ben, but to show concern for the boy. The only other regular kid coming into the library was Dustin Henderson, and he had just left for camp. Ben was the only kid coming in multiple times a week, she felt kind of protective of the boy. She was worried about Ben getting hurt by the crazy person killing in Derry, “Don’t you have any friends?”

“Can I just have to book now?” Ben asked. Ms. Marrissa let it go. Ben was a quiet kid, but also extremely sweet. She had a feeling he’d be fine so she let it go.

As soon as she walked away Ben flipped open the book. It was titled, ‘Old Derry’. He looked through the pictures the book had. It was set up like a photo album. 

There were pictures of soldiers celebrating the end of the war and coming home at the train station. Then there were multiple pictures of the sawmill. Then the most intriguing part came. The Ironworks. His teachers off handly mentioned it on the anniversary of the event telling students it had happened 81 years earlier. 

The Easter explosion. It almost seemed like a town myth. But this book proved the myth to be a harsh reality. The Ironworks held an Easter egg hunt there and there had been a terrible explosion, cause by undetermined reasons, that killed 88 of the kids hunting for eggs and 102 people total. It had been so gruesome, that days after the event, a local woman found the severed head of a boy who had been hunting for eggs in her tree, tangled in the top branches.

Ben was flipping through the book when the first image of that popped up. He flipped the page and he swore it got closer to the head in the tree. It just kept getting closer and closer until it was zoomed right into the head. 

He quickly slammed the book shut and felt an uneasy feeling wash over him. He had the recent newspaper out on the desk in front of him. He was reading it this morning. But it’s feels like he was just seeing it for the first time. The headline reading: “ _ Body found by the canal, not Betty Ripsom _ ”. 

_ Who would he next? _ Ben thought. 

Ben jumped, behind him he heard a child giggling quite loudly. He slowly turned to see a red balloon floating behind him through the library. An eerie music started playing from some sort of music box that Ben couldn’t see. Nobody in the library seemed to notice the music playing either. 

The balloon floated through the library through the doors leading to the basement. Ben’s curiosity got the best of him. He wanted to follow the balloon, he wanted to see where it led him.

He got up and slowly made his way to the door. He gasped when he looked through the door to see an Easter egg sitting on the ground. 

_ It’s the boy’s egg, the one that’s head was blown off _ , Ben thought to himself. He walked over to it and saw that it appeared to have smoke coming out of it. He curiously gazed further down the hall and saw another egg. He kept walking and found egg after egg leading down down the hall to the stairwell where it continued down to the basement. 

Ben knew he shouldn’t be down there but for some reason his curiosity was getting the best of him. 

The basement felt 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the library. He felt goosebumps pricking his arms as he stepped further into the basement. He saw one final egg in the middle of the floor. 

He picked the egg up to examine it. To his surprise the egg felt hot on his skin. 

He jumped as the lights started to flicker. He  _ knew _ he shouldn’t have come down here. There's kids going missing left and right in Derry, and what does Ben do? He goes off alone. 

His breath became labored as he walked further into the basement looking to see what was causing the lights to go crazy. He steps forward and against a pillar in the room. It felt safe, it grounded him. 

He looked forward into the basement and through the maze of shelving and swears he saw another kid down here. He hears giggles as a smaller shadowy figure ran by about 20 feet in front of Ben. 

The lights stop flickering as heavy footsteps start to descend from the stairwell he came from. He slowly turned around to peak around the pillar he was still against.

He saw a small boy standing at the top of the stairs holding a bunch of eggs in his arms.

_ Some kid must have found the trail of eggs _ , Ben thought. At the same moment the little boy moved forward going down yet another few steps revealing that the boy didn’t have a head.  _ It’s the boy from the book! _ Ben thought as the headless boy clambered down the steps dropping eggs as he went. 

The headless boy walked like it was possessed, which only made sense because it  _ was _ headless. It continued to Ben walking in its inhuman way. Ben was frozen for a second or two. There was no way this was real… he can’t be seeing yet another unexplainable thing. 

It was in early January. The wind was cold, the snow falling from the sky was colder. Derry was basically frozen. The kids had been dismissed early from school and probably wouldn’t have school the following week because of how much snow was coming down. 

Mrs. Douglas, the 8th grade English teacher, was looking for someone to help sort through the books that had been returned after winter break. Ben offered. It was a calming job and he loved books. 

When they were done Mrs. Douglas offered to give Ben a ride if he were to wait for her husband to show, which be would in about an hour or so. Ben declined, his mother would worry. He doesn’t want to worry her, plus his house is only a few blocks away. Walking should only take him 10 minutes at most. 

Ben has to walk along the canal, which is connected to the Kenduskeag, to get to his home. On this particular day Ben saw what appeared to be a clown on the other side of the canal. That wasn’t even the weird part. The weird part was that the clown was holding a bunch of balloons that were blowing against the wind. 

When the clown released the balloons and they floated towards Ben instead of away with the flow of wind. Ben was mesmerized by the phenomenon that he didn’t even notice the clown moving closer and closer to him. When he did the clown had shifted into something looking more like a mummy and it was 10 feet away from Ben. 

Although Ben is chubby, he is also quite fast. He ran the remainder of the trek home. He had convinced himself he was seeing things. That that wasn’t real. But here he is 6 months later experiencing yet another phenomenon. 

The headless boy advanced towards Ben. Ben ran. He clambered into the shelves knocking files down as he tried to get away. He turned the corner and heard the thing growl, “Egg Boy.”

He turned around and came face to face with the clown he had seen at the canal. It was laughing at him. Ben couldn’t believe his eyes and he couldn’t turn away. Because he wasn’t watching where he was going Ben had run into Ms. Marrissa who had come down the steps to put some files away. 

“What on earth are you doing?!” She gasped out as she looked at the boy frantically scanning the room.

He couldn’t say anything. He just glanced at the Ms. Marrissa before running up the steps leaving her confused. 

Ben had to get out of there. 

____

Ben didn’t know where to go now. The library wasn’t safe anymore. Everywhere Ben thought about going wasn’t safe for him. Henry had the possibility of being there. 

He’d rather go home early and have his mother question him than being caught by Henry. 

Ben read over his poem again as he left the library. He thought it was perfect for Bev as he slipped it into his back pocket where it would be safe until he got home. 

As he passed the statue honoring the soldiers who served in World War One and then in World War Two he saw Henry Bowers out of the corner of his eye leaning against it. 

He panicked. Of course Henry knew where he was, it was a process of elimination really. Ben was predictable. 

Ben began to run, not taking his eyes off of Henry for one second. But he was caught off guard by Victor Criss. 

Soon he was being dragged by the Bowers gang through Derry to god knows where. 

____

Ben knew Henry had plans for what he was doing to him as he was dragged to the kissing bridge. He was pushed back and forth between the gang as if he was a basketball. 

One second he was under Victor’s arm the next he was being pulled up by Patrick Hocksetter by his bag.

Belch pulled up Ben’s shirt over his head. He felt more than one of them slapping his stomach. Before he knew it he was being pushed against the bridge itself. His shirt was pulled back down and he could see again. Victor and Belch were on either side of him holding his arms down. 

He heard Patrick shaking his hair spray up he always kept on him and the clink of his lighter. Ben nearly blacked out. He was going to die. He knew it. There was no way he could get away from those psychopaths. He would be the next kid missing, but from a different monster. 

“Let me light his hair.” Patrick exclaimed, “Like Michael Jackson!” He used his hair spray and lighter as a flamethrower. He laughed as he moved it closer to Ben but not close enough to catch him actually on fire, just close enough so he could feel the heat of the flames on his face. 

“Just hold him!” Henry exclaimed as he moved forward right in from of Ben. 

“Get off of me!” Ben yelled, “Get off!” 

Ben saw a glimmer of hope as a station wagon rode down the road. He made eye contact with the couple inside. He felt the Bowers gang’s grip on him loosen slightly, but not enough to break free. 

“Help!” He called out to the couple. They kept on driving, barely batting an eye at what was happening, “HELP!”

The car left through the bridge. Ben couldn’t believe it, the couple just left him here. He’s going to get murdered by Bowers and those  _ people _ just let it happen. 

Ben must have started hallucinating because he swore that there was a red balloon in the back of the car. Whatever that thing was in the library today and at the canal in January had followed him here. He could feel IT’s eyes on him. 

As soon as the car was gone Henry swung his fist into Ben’s face. Ben’s ears started to ring. Henry was speaking but Ben couldn’t hear it. He knew it was about that stupid test. If only he could go back, he’d let Henry copy off of him then he wouldn’t be here. 

“Okay new kid.” Henry growled, “This is what us locals call the Kissing Bridge. It’s famous for two things. Sucking face.” Belch made kissing noises into Ben’s ear, “And carving names.” Henry pulled out his pocket knife and clicked it open revealing it’s 6 inch blade. 

“Henry please.” Ben sobbed out. 

Henry moved quickly. He sliced a line into Ben’s stomach before anyone could stop him. Patrick watched in amazement and awe from behind Henry. Patrick laughs a laugh of pure glee that made Ben want to throw up. How sick did you have to be to find this funny?

Henry had crossed the lines carving an ‘H’ into Ben’s round stomach. Ben could feel the blood trickling from his open wound down his stomach. It felt like fire on his skin 

“Whoa! Whoa! Henry!” Belch shouted. He couldn’t believe Henry was taking it this far. Both Belch and Victor had loosen their grips on Ben’s arm. All Ben had to do is get his footing right and he’d be home safe. 

“SHUT UP!” Henry screeched,”I’m going to crave my whole name into this cottage cheese!”

Ben chose now. He brought his leg up before ramming his foot into Henry’s groin. The force of the kick propelled him back, sending him down the embankment. Ben tumbled down the hill. His feet going over his head until he came to a halt at the bottom. 

He heard Henry’s voice echo through the trees around him, “I’M GOING TO CUT YOUR FUCKING TITS OFF I SWEAR TO GOD!” 

Ben quickly pulled himself off the ground ignoring the twinge of pain shooting toward his leg. He had to get out of there. 

“YOU CAN'T RUN!”

“WE’RE GOING TO FIND YOU FATTY!”

The threats echoed through the woods. Their voices got quieter and quieter as Ben got more distance between them. 

“He’s going that way!” He heard Patrick yell. Ben kept running. He had a small chance of getting home alive and he was taking it. 

He passed what he calls a morlock hole that was along the Kenduskeag. Ben ran through the shallow waters. 

He no longer heard the voices but he kept moving. The Kenduskeag is connected to the canal which will lead him straight home. 

Ben tripped on the rocks. Sending him down sputtering to the ground. He swallowed some of the river as he tried to catch his breath. 

“Holy shit!” He heard a different voice echo. He recognized it. He glanced to the side to see 4 boys in his grade standing in the sewer tunnel. The one who spoke was one of the Tozier-Wheeler twins, but Ben couldn’t make out which one it was at the moment, “what happened to you?

“Bowers.” Ben whispered in a shaky voice. 

____

One moment Ben was struggling to stand the next he was being helped up and boarded onto the back of Bill Denbrough’s bike. His head felt fuzzy still. He could hear the small boy – Eddie Kaspbrak – had been rambling on and on the whole way to downtown. 

He could only make out bits and pieces. He swears he heard the boy gasp and then say something about aids and then amputating his waist as Bill helped him sit down on the box in the alley in front of the mural of the famous Bradley Gang. 

“You guys do know alleys are known for dirty needles that have AIDS, right?” Eddie spoke without pausing for air. Ben didn’t know how the boy did it, especially considering the boy was known for having the worst case of Asthma in Derry, Maine, “You do know that right?”

The boys began to drop their bikes, except Stan Uris who put his kick stand up before running after Bill who had started to run out of the alley. 

“Ruh-Richie. Stay h-here.” Bill ordered before gesturing to Stan and Eddie to follow him, “C-come on.”

There was a moment of silence between Ben and Richie. 

“I’m glad I got to meet you before you died.” Richie said. 

Ben, who sat with dried up blood on his forehead, nose, and stomach, stared in confusion toward Richie. 

____

There was only one place in town that they could go to get supplies to fix up Ben at. That was Keene’s and Mevland’s pharmacy and general store. 

Eddie didn’t waste time. He blindly greeted Joyce Byers, who worked there and frequently checked his medication out for him, before diving into the health supply aisle. 

He grabbed gauze, cotton balls, wound disinfectant, bandaids. Anything that could help clean Ben's wound, or at least anything Eddie’s mother would use to clean any of his wounds, should he ever get any. 

Beside where Eddie was gathering supplies, Bill and Stan had both pulled their money out of their pockets to see if they had enough. Stan counted it, together they had 3 dollars. 

“C-c-can we a-afford all t-that?” Bill asked. 

“It’s all we have.” Stan said as he held their collective money together for the other two to see. 

“Are you kidding me?” Eddie sighed. 

“Whuh-wait, Eddie, don’t y-you have an a-a-account here?” Bill asked. 

“If my mom finds out I bought all this stuff for myself, I’m spending the whole week in the emergency room getting x-rayed.” Eddie whispered. 

____

Two aisles down from the boys Bev Marsh stood looking at all the available feminine products. She was unsure on what to get for herself. It was only her 2nd period and she had no one to help guide her and tell her which products to use and which not to use. 

She went for one of the Tampax boxes, slowly and shamefully grabbing it. She started to quickly walk to the front desk checkout trying to get out of there as fast as possible. Her walk was cut short when Greta Keene started to walk down the aisle. 

“See you later dad.” She called behind her back as she situated her bag on her back and walked with her head down, not even noticing Bev. 

Bev quickly ran to the next aisle praying Greta didn’t see her out of the corner of her eye as she left the mostly abandoned store.

The next aisle had 3 boys in it. Eddie Kaspbrak, Stanley Uris, and Bill Denbrough. They all stood there awkwardly staring at one another. Bev hid the tampons behind her back while Eddie dropped one of the many gauze he was holding. 

After a moment or two of being frozen, Bill finally spoke, “A-a-are you o-okay?”

“I’m fine.” Bev said quickly, “What's wrong with you?”

“None of your business.” Stan said. 

“There’s a kid outside. Looks like someone killed him.” Eddie bluntly said. 

“We n-n-need some supplies, but d-don’t have enough m-money.” Bill admitted.

Bev looked at the boys before glaring over their shoulders at Mr. Keene. She knew exactly how to help, and it wasn’t going to be fun in the least. 

____

The boys watched in awe and disgust as Bev openly flirted with Mr. Keene. It was no secret that Keene was a creep. Like capital C Creep. 

Stan wanted to actually barf as he heard Keene say Bev looked like Lois Lane. He thought of his own sister Robin. She wasn’t shy about doing the same thing Bev was doing, and Stan knows she has before. 

When Bev knocked the shelf of cigarettes over that as their cue to run. The three boys all clambered into each other as they rushed out of the store not trying to be noticed by either Keene or Joyce Byers.

____

“Just suck the wound!” Richie exclaimed as he peered over Eddie’s shoulder to look at Ben’s stomach. 

“I need to focus right now.” Eddie grumbled. 

“You need to focus?” Richie asked. 

“Yeah, can you get me something?” Eddie asked as he placed a gauze over Ben’s wound. 

“Jesus! What do you need?!” Richie exclaimed. 

“My Bifocals.” Eddie said, “I hid ‘em in my second fanny pack.”

Bill started to creep back up the alley to the main road. Bev should be walking by and he wanted to catch her to thank her before she was gone.

“Why do you have two fanny packs?” Bill heard Stan exclaim. 

Bill stepped out onto the sidewalk and saw Bev walking toward him. Her beautiful long red hair bundled into a neat ponytail. Her blue eyes seemed to shine in the sunlight. Bill was mesmerized. It seemed like time started to move slowly as the girl approached. 

Bill quickly dug into his pocket and pulled out his money to give to Bev. He held the crumpled up one to her, “um...t-t-thanks.” 

Bev snorted before holding up a box of cigarettes, “Even-Steven.” She offered Bill a wink before she glanced down the alley he had come from. She saw Richie, Eddie, Stanley, and “Ben from sosh?” She said out loud before walking down the alley to join the other boys. 

Bev gasped as she got closer seeing the blood coming from Ben’s forehead, nose, and a huge blob of red on his stomach, “Are you okay?! That looks like it hurts!”

Ben flushed because of course Bev would come at a time like this, “Oh, no, I’m...I’m good. I just...fell?” Ben stammered out. 

“Yeah.” Richie said, “Right into Henry Bowers.”

“B-beep beep Richie.” Bill warned. 

“Why?!” Richie exclaimed, “It’s the truth.”

Bev stepped forward so Ben could properly see her, “You sure they got the..right stuff…” Bev winked, poking fun at the song he had been listening to only a few days earlier, “to fix you up?”

Ben gave Bev a goofy smile before looking away. How much more embarrassing could today get?

“W-w-we’ll take c-care of h-him.” Bill promised, “uh thuh-thanks again Beverly.”

“Sure. Maybe I’ll see you around?” She asked. 

“Yeah. We w-were thinking a-a-about going to the kuh-quarry tomorrow. If you w-wanna come?”

“Which one?” Bev asked. 

“B-Bellwood.”

“Good to know. Thanks.” Bev said as she walked away waving the boys goodbye. 

Once she had turned the corner and was out of sight. Stan scolded Richie, “Nice going bringing up Bowers in front of her.”

“Yeah! You heard what she did!” Eddie said. 

“What...what did she do?” Ben asked in a small voice. 

“More like ‘Who’d she do?’” Richie exclaimed, “From what I hear the list is longer than my wang!” Richie laughed as he made a show of gesturing to his groin. 

“That’s not saying much.” Stan said as he rolled his eyes. 

“They’re j-juh-just rumors.” Bill insisted. 

“Bill had her back in the third grade.” Richie exclaimed. Stan winked at Bill causing the other boy to look away bashfully. “They kissed in the school play! The reviews said you can’t fake that sort of passion!”

Ben frowned. There was no way he could stand a chance at winning Bev’s heart with Bill in the picture. But at least he could make her day or week with the poem, he’ll settle for that.

“Now pip-pip and tally-ho my good fellows!” Richie exclaimed in his British guy voice, “I do believe this chap requires our utmost attention.” Richie pushed Eddie back towards Ben, “Get in there, Dr. K, come on! Fix ‘im up!”

“Why do you shut the fuck up Einstein. Because I know what I’m doing and I don’t want you doing to British guy with me right now!” Eddie warned as he got back to work. 

“Suck the wound! Get in there-“

____

Ben found it odd. He started the day off with zero friends and he’s going to end it with 4 new ones, 5 if you counted Bev.

When Eddie had finished dressing Ben’s wound Bill invited Ben, along with the rest of the group, over to his home. Ben agreed because he knew his mother would have a heart attack if she saw what he looked like. 

That’s how Ben found himself all cleaned up in fresh clothes, that belonged to Zack Denbrough, playing monopoly with 4 boys who he would have never thought he’d be friends with. 

Outside the Denbrough home a storm was brewing. The sky was darkening and thunder was beginning to rumble. It had been pouring rain for almost 15 minutes now.

“I used to l-luh-love storms.” Bill said so quietly they all barely heard it as he got up from the floor and sat in front of the window. Ben didn’t ask what had happened, he knew it had to do with Bill’s little brother and what happened with him. He decided he’d just ask Eddie or Stan later about the little boy. 

“Oh my god!” Bill exclaimed as he stood up from the window and ran to the front door. 

“What is it Bill?” Eddie asked as the rest of the boys looked out the window to see what Bill saw. There in the rain was someone about their age struggling to get down the road as quickly as possible in the pouring rain, “Who’s out there can you tell?”

“It’s W-Wuh-Will Byers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Mike Wheeler


	5. Mike Wheeler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike messes up nearly all his relationship for 7000 words.

**Chapter 5** : Mike Wheeler

**_Saturday, June 17_ **

Mike couldn’t believe this was his life. He couldn’t believe El had returned from the dead. He couldn’t believe he was able to keep his promise about the Snowball. He couldn’t believe she agreed to be his girlfriend. 

If you were to go back in time 3 years and tell 11 year old Mike about the wonderful girl he had found and would date he would have laughed. He would have laughed long and hard because no girl, except for Greta Keene in the first grade for about a week, had found any interest in him before. El was the first. He was completely sure she was the only one for him. 

Another great thing about their relationship is that it’s both of their firsts. They are experiencing them all together. El had no clue what some of the things were. She’s never heard of a date and thought Mike was talking about an actual day when he suggested it once, it got shut down quickly by Hopper. 

He was content. He and El were in what Nancy calls the honeymoon phase. Mike comes over almost everyday and they sit on her bed and kiss. It was great! Mike felt like he could kiss her all day and he was actually getting to when they met up. 

The only downside, Hopper. He was always there. Always watching. Being a helicopter parent x50. 

Mike knew what not to do. He wasn’t even thinking about doing  _ those _ things. He knew neither of them were ready. He knew El probably didn’t know what  _ that _ was. He had boundaries. El had boundaries. They were both unspoken but known between the two. 

Unfortunately that was not the case with Hopper. He always bursted in breaking the two apart before taking Mike home. 

Today Hopper wasn’t there at first. They had time alone which was nice because they don’t  _ always _ kiss. Mike tells her about school (when school was still in), he tells her about his brother Richie and all the stupid things he does, he tells her about the Party since she only sees them about once a week. El tells Mike about all the stuff Hopper is teaching her. She slowly and choppily reads Mike her book, Anne of Green Gables. He helps her when she has trouble with words. El shows Mike the math problems Hopper is teaching her and Mike shows her some more basic math. He taught her how to do division, an achievement he is quite proud of. So it’s not all kissing. It just happens to be the only thing Hopper ever sees. 

Everytime El and Mike made out El insisted on having the radio on a romantic station. A habit Mike thinks she picked up from her soap operas. He doesn’t mind. In fact it helps drown out Hopper who is constantly shouting at them to separate.

_ I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore _ blasted through the radio making Mike smile into the kiss he was giving El. He couldn’t help but feel like the song fit them. 

Things were going great for the two until they heard a knock at the door. They pulled apart and they moved so they were sitting on opposite sides of the bed.

“Hey.” Hopper called out sounding unsure of himself. 

“Yes?” El asked. 

“Can I talk to you guys for a minute?” He asked. El pushed the door open with her powers. Moments later Hopper walked slowly into the room, “Hi.” Hopper said awkwardly. 

“Hi.” Mike and El said together equally confused. 

Hopper nodded before grabbing the chair from El’s desk and moving it so he was sitting in front of the two. The trio stared at each other for a couple of moments. The radio was still blaring from behind where Hopper sat. He slowly turned to turn it off leaving the whole house silent. 

“Um…” Hopper said after about a minute of silence, “What I uh...I needed to say to you…What I  _ wanted _ to say to you...is that...Um-“

“Uh-oh” Mike said playfully as he turned to El, “I think we’re in trouble.” The pair grinned widely at each other before they started to chuckle. 

“No.” Hopper stared at the pair in disbelief, “No, nobody’s in trouble, okay?” Hopper sighed, “I just um….” Hopper paused as he watched Mike lean over and whisper something into El’s ear which caused the two to start snickering even more. Hopper’s patience was dwindling, “You know what?” Hopper was talking to Mike, “Your mom called.”

“What?” Mike was confused. 

“Yeah.” Hopper exaggerated, “She needs you home right away.”

“Is everything…okay?” Mike asked. 

“No, I don’t think so.” Mike felt his heart drop inside his chest. All the worst case scenarios running through his head, something happened to Nancy, Richie, or Holly. One of them is dead. Whatever thing is killing kids in the town got his siblings,”It’s your grandma.” Mike almost sighed of relief. His grandmother had a habit of falling and she probably fell again. Mike quickly grabbed his bag from where it lay next to the bag and followed Hopper outside to his car.

“Is she dead?” Mike asked. 

“No.”

“Did she fall again?”

“No.”

“Does she have cancer?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t understand!” Mike exclaimed as he climbed into the passenger side of Hopper’s police car, “What’s wrong with Nana?!”

Hopper slammed the door shut, closing the two of them in the car, “NOTHING!” He shouted, making Mike jump, “NOTHING IS WRONG WITH NANA!”

“What?!” Mike exclaimed.

“But...there is something very wrong with this thing between you and El.” Hopper grunted.

“Oh, you lying piece of shit!” Mike shouted as he turned to leave the car and go back to the cabin. The car locked shut. He pulled the lock back up and Hopper hit the button locking Mike in. This went on for about a minute before Mike turned back to Hopper and exclaimed, “You’re crazy!”

“Crazy?” Hopper parroted before turning to Mike and saying in a low voice, “You want to see real crazy?” He said darkly, “you disrespect me again...okay? Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to drive you home. And I’m going to speak...and you're going to listen” Hopper leaned forward onto the steering wheel, “And then, maybe...maybe by the end of it, maybe if you’re lucky, maybe...I will continue...to allow you to date my daughter.” Hopper said slowly before turning back to Mike who looked dumbfounded at what Hopper said, “Nod if you understand!” Hopper demanded. 

Mike frantically nodded his head. He’s so confused on what is happening at the moment. He doesn’t know what he did to upset Hopper in the first place. 

Hopper took off in his car. Making the normally short 10 minute drive feel like an hour for Mike.

____

By the time Hopper had dropped Mike off at his house the boy was badly terrified. He had a new found fear and respect for the chief of police. He didn’t know Hopper could get that angry and especially at Mike, for what, for kissing his daughter?

Mike offered his mother a small greeting before running up the stairs to his shared room with his twin brother Richie. Richie was sitting on Mike’s bed, the bottom bunk of their bunk bed, reading a comic. They’ve shared a room since Holly was born, their parents insisted that the boys share a room. Mike slammed the door shut completely on accident, his frustration got the better of him. 

“Jeez. I didn’t realize you were manstruating, I’m pretty sure Nance has some extra tampons if you need some.” Richie said completely deadpan from where he sat on Mike’s bed. 

“I am  _ not _ in the mood for your bullshit Richie.” Mike grumbled as he shoved his brother off the bed and to the floor. 

“You fucker!” Richie cursed as he hit the floor, “That was completely uncalled for!” He yelled at Mike as he got up and crawled to the top bunk, “What's got your panties in a twist? Did your fake girlfriend break up with you?”

“For the millionth time Rich, she’s a real person, and no. We didn’t break up. Her dad just had a complete meltdown and kicked me out of the house.” Mike nearly shouted. He didn’t know what to do. El was expecting him in the morning and now he couldn’t just come over. Not with Hopper there. 

“No proof, I’ve never seen this chick so she doesn’t exist. Were you just at Lucas’s playing Atari when his mom kicked you out because you were the wrong twi-“

“Shut  _ up _ !” Mike said, “You are so fucking gross.”

“That’s not what Lucas’s mom said when I left his house last night.” Richie snorted to himself at his own joke. Mike stared blankly up at the top bunk where Richie sat. He knew his brother couldn’t see him but also knew his brother knew Mike well enough to know he’d be glaring at him. 

Mike just dropped it. He was not in the mood to try and converse with his idiotic brother at the moment. He grabbed one of the comics Richie had out and started to read it. 

“Careful with those.” Richie called out,“I’m borrowing these from Stan the Man and he’d have a heart attack if one of them returned damaged.”

“When have I  _ not _ been careful with comics?”

“I’m just telling you if you ruin it I’m sending Stan to you.” 

“Whatever.”

About an hour and a half later, around 11 o’clock, Karen Tozier-Wheeler came into the boys room all dressed up in a long red dress. She had her hair done and her makeup done. 

“Okay time for bed.” She told the two. 

“But it’s sum-“ Richie started to say. 

“I don’t care if it’s summer, you still need sleep and I don’t want you guys getting out of the sleep schedule we had for school. Now get ready for bed Richard.” Karen said sternly, “You too Michael.”

“Mom, we have like 3 months until school starts again.” Richie argued as he pulled himself from the top bunk and to the ground where he walked by his mom and to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“Well, I want you to bed at 11 okay?” Karen said as she pulled Richie into a hug as he walked by. 

“Mooooommmm!” Richie complained as he tried to squirm out of it.

“Richiiieeee!” Karen said in the same tone as Richie. She kissed her son on the cheek before pushing him away into the hall to brush his teeth. She walked over to where Mike sat on the bed and sat down next to him, “Everything okay sweetie?” She asked. 

“I…” Mike trailed off, “Everything will be fine, you don’t have to worry.”

“You’d tell me if there’s anything wrong, right?” Karen asked. 

“Of course mom.” Mike lied, there was so much he hadn't told her, couldn’t tell her. He looked at her outfit, “Going somewhere?”

Karen’s face flushed when she remembered what she was wearing and what she was about to do, “I’m about to leave for a ladies night.”

“Okay.” Mike said, “Be safe.” 

“Of course Mike. Goodnight sweetie.” She kissed his forehead before leaving. 

“Goodnight mom.” Mike called after her.

Once Mike was changed and had brushed his teeth he lay in his bed contemplating what he was going to do in the morning tomorrow. He felt his eyes grow heavy as the thought of just sleeping on it ran through his mind. He gave in and the speech Hopper had given him was playing through his mind all night as he slept. 

**_Sunday, June 18_ **

Mike woke up as soon as his alarm went off an alarm he had set for when he was getting up to get ready to go to El’s. Richie was still asleep on the top bunk and grumbled at Mike to turn the alarm off. Mike said a quick apology before turning it off and getting dressed. He passed his mother on the way down to the basement. 

“Aren’t you going over to El’s today?” She stopped Mike as he stopped in the kitchen to grab a poptart before going down to the basement. 

“Change of plans. I think I’ll have the party over today.” Mike said quickly, “How was ladies night?”

“Didn’t end up going.” Karen said, “I came down stairs and saw your father and Holly asleep and couldn’t leave my family.” Mike just nodded in response, “Is Richie still asleep?” She asked. Mike nodded, “I’m leaving for the pool around 9:30,” she glanced down at her watch, “That’s about an hour from now, will you make sure your brother doesn’t sleep all day?”

“Sure.” Mike said before running down stairs to the basement. 

____

Mike spent the next hour pacing back and forth in the basement. He knew there was no going back. He was supposed to be at El’s at 9:30 and it was now 9:31. It wouldn’t be long until she called wondering where he was. She was quite punctual when it came to stuff like this and didn’t have the patience for people being late. 

He jumped when the phone rang. He didn’t pick it up. He watched it ring for a moment or two before it stopped, his mother had answered. 

“MIKE!” He heard his mother yell down the stairs moments later, “PHONE!”

“OKAY!” He called back up. He stared at the phone his father had installed down in the basement for him and Richie as a Christmas present. His heart began to race faster and faster with each step he took as he walked over to the phone. 

He sighed before picking it up. No turning back now, “Hello?” He asked into the phone hoping for some reason it was Lucas, or Will, and not El. 

“It’s 9:32.” He heard the door slam behind El, “Where are you?”

“Sorry. I—I was about to call. I um...can’t see you today.” Mike said. 

“What…Why not?” El sounded so confused. 

“It’s my Nana.” Mike said. It was something she would believe since Hopper used that excuse last night, “She’s very sick.”

“But Hop said your Nana was okay. That it was a false alarm.” El said. Mike began to curse to himself, because of course Hopper would tell El that. 

“Yeah.” Mike said quickly, “That’s...what...we thought it was at first, but then she took a real turn for the worse.”

“Oh.” Was all El could say. 

“Yeah…” Mike trailed off, “We think she might...die…”

“WHAT?” The concerned voice of Karen Tozier-Wheeler came through the phone. 

Mike felt his breath leave him as he put his hand over the speaker part of the phone hoping to mute himself of some sort, “MOM! GET OFF THE PHONE!” He shouted at the top of his lungs he wouldn’t be surprised if he had woken up Richie with how loud he was being, “HOW MANY TIMES!”

“DID NANA CALL?!” Karen shouted back to Mike. 

“NO MOM! JUST GET. OFF. THE. PHONE!” He heard his mother huff before putting the phone back on the wall. He got his breathing under control before lifting his phone back to his ear, “Sorry about that.” Mike tried to laugh it off. 

“Was that your mom?” El asked. 

“Yeah. She’s so upset she’s making no sense, because we have to go to the nursing home to see Nana.” Mike said. 

“You can come over after?” El trailed off. 

“NO.” Mike shouted before calmly saying, “I mean, I—I just think...I need to be alone today.” Mike explained before awkwardly adding, “With my...feelings?”

“Do you lie?” El asked quickly. 

“WHAT? No! Friends don’t lie.” Mike said before covering the phone with his hand and yelling, “What mom?” He quickly put the phone back to his ear, “My mom’s calling me. I better go. Talk to you tomorrow. Miss you already! Bye!” He said quickly before hanging the phone up. 

He slumped against the post the phone was hung on, “Well...I’ve fucked this up…” he whispered to himself.

____

Mike’s become reliant on Lucas for advice in the past 6 months and the same goes for Lucas with Mike. They were both experiencing having their first girlfriends at the same time and when one of them became unsure on what to do they’d turn to the other and they’d help them with their situation. The only thing is that Mike’s never been in a situation this bad. 

Lucas, along with Will, had arrived at Mike’s house nearly 20 minutes after the disastrous phone call with El. As soon as the two of them were in the basement Mike began his rant. He didn’t even notice that Lucas was the only one really listening. He didn’t notice Will happily setting up a game of Dungeons and Dragons for the party to play because that’s what he assumed Mike has invited him and Lucas over to do after Will had mentioned he wanted to play as they left school. 

“She knows I’m lying. She  _ knows _ I’m lying.” Mike had repeated for the 15th time. 

“I don’t even understand. Why lie?” Lucas asked. 

“HOPPER!” Mike shouted, “he  _ threatened _ me.”

“Did he say he’d kill you?” Lucas asked. 

“What?!” Mike nearly fainted at the idea, “No!”

“So then, what’s the big deal?” Lucas asked. 

“The  _ big deal _ is that if I  _ don’t _ do as he says, then he’ll stop me from seeing El.” Mike said, “Like  _ permanently _ . You don’t understand Lucas! He’s crazy!” Lucas sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “He’s lost his mind.”

“Hey guys.” Will piped up from where he was still setting up the game, “I’m almost set up here.” Will’s words fell onto deaf ears. 

“I had no  _ choice _ Lucas. I  _ really _ had  _ no _ choice!” Mike shouted at Lucas. 

“I just wish you’d consulted me,” Lucas admitted, “because the way you handled this...you’re in deep shit!” Mike flopped himself onto the couch groaning loudly as he gestured wildly with his arms from how frustrated he was, “I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be bad.” Lucas said. Mike let out another, and louder, groan, “But, you  _ can _ fix this. It’s just  _ one _ little mistake!” Lucas jumped up from his seat to stand in front of Mike to make a point, “I’ve made hundreds,  _ thousands _ .” Mike stared blankly at Lucas, “Max has dumped me  _ five _ times.” He held 5 fingers up to make a point, “But what have I done?” Lucas asked Mike, “Huh? Have I despaired? No. I’ve marched back into battle, and I’ve won her back. Every. Single. Freaking. Time.” He closed his hand into a fist. 

“How?” Mike asked. 

“I’ll show you.” Lucas offered, “Come on.” 

Lucas and Mike quickly ran out of the basement seemingly forgetting Will was there in the first place. 

“Wait, guys?” Will yelled for them as he watched the two leave, “I’m still here!” He waited a moment and there was no reply, “Guys?” Once again Will’s words fell on to deaf ears. 

____

Mike and Lucas, and Will, made their way to the new Starcourt mall as fast as they could on their bikes. Will was at least 30 feet behind Mike and Lucas because they had left him and seemingly had forgotten that he was with them. 

Once at the mall, Mike and Lucas actually waited for Will to catch up to them before Lucas led them into the mall’s closest jewelry store. 

“I just...I don’t understand what we’re looking for.” Mike said.

“Something pretty  _ and _ shiny that says ‘I’m sorry.’” Lucas explained. 

“What? Just something that literally says ‘I’m sorry?’” Mike asked. 

“No!” Lucas sighed, “My god, you're helpless.”

“Oh...I get it now.” Mike said as he ran into the jewelry store. 

Mike went straight to the counters looking away at them. Will and Lucas trailed behind him as he looked for the perfect gift for El. He found it within seconds. It was a mini gold teddy bear.

He beamed as he looked up at the man behind the counter, “Excuse me sir?” Mike asked. 

“Mm-hmm?” The man said as he turned his attention to Mike. 

“How much for that little teddy bear right there?” Mike asked. 

The man glanced down at the said bear before looking back at Mike with a smirk, “Three-Hundred.” 

Mike felt his eye twitch for a split second, “Three-Hundred?” Mike parroted. The man nodded. Mike slowly stood up before storming out of the store quickly followed by Lucas and Will. 

“Three-Hundred?! Three-Hundred!” Lucas exclaimed. 

“I should have shoved that teddy bear right up his ass!” Mike exclaimed. 

“I wouldn’t have stopped you. That’s such a ridiculous price.” Lucas said as the three of them walked through the mall looking for the next store. 

They took a turn about to go into a store they saw a lot of women entering when they realized that it was a lingerie store. There were mannequins of stockings, underwear, bras, and some things that the boys couldn’t even name. They all looked shocked, and mildly uncomfortable in Will’s case, at the store in front of them before they all ran away. 

Lucas found a perfume stand and instantly pulled Mike toward it. 

“Girls love this stuff.” Lucas explained as they went to the counter. Mike and Will both were sniffing samples on the counter while Lucas asked the store manager about a vanilla perfume he had purchased for Max once that she loved. He found it and gave it to Lucas to sample.

Lucas sniffed it to confirm it was the right one, which it was, before turning to Mike. 

“Hey Mike.” He said as he sprayed the perfume into Mike’s face, and eyes. Mike screamed out in pain as his eyes burned 

“Lucas!” Mike shouted. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to do that.” Lucas grimaced. 

“My eyes burn! I have my contacts in right now! I don’t have my glasses with me!” Mike yelled. 

“I’m sorry, go to the bathroom, try to wash it out.” Lucas suggested. 

Mike grumbled as he was led to the bathroom where he was able to get the burning to stop and somehow not have to remove his contacts for the day.

Soon the boys found themselves sitting at the fountain in the middle of the mall. Lucas and Mike were staring blankly at the people shopping in the mall because they had gotten nowhere with finding El. Will was glancing around before turning to his two friends sitting beside him. 

“Can we please play D&D now?” Will asked. 

“No.” Lucas and Mike said in unison. 

“This is useless.” Mike said ,”I don’t have enough money for anything!” 

“Why’d you only bring like 3 dollars then?” Lucas asked as he got up. He led the group back outside where they left their bikes. 

“I only have 3 dollars. I don’t get my next allowance until Friday and it’s going to be way too late to get anything for her then.” Mike exclaimed as they left through the doors of the mall. 

“You should have gotten some kind of job or something.” Lucas said as they grabbed their bikes. 

“That’s ridiculous! Why couldn’t I have just mowed old man Humphrey’s lawn?” Mike asked. 

“Well that doesn’t help us now, we haven’t got much money.” Lucas said. 

“Well what if we just split it?” Mike asked as they pulled their bikes from the stand and started to walk them towards the road. 

“Split it with what? Does that even make any sense?” Lucas asked. 

“Isn’t this a nice surprise.” An all too familiar voice said. 

Mike looked up and saw Max along with El standing in front of him eating ice cream cones from Scoops Ahoy. El had a completely different wardrobe from her usual baggy flannels and baggy sweatpants she had gotten from Hopper. She now wore a black romper that was splashed with colors and her hair was parted to the side, like Max’s was at the moment. She looked almost older with the new look.

Mike ended up dropping his bike out of surprise, “ _ What _ are  _ you _ doing here?”

“Shopping.” El answered easily. 

“This is her new style. What do you think?” Max asked, obviously trying to provoke Mike.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Mike exclaimed, “You  _ know _ she’s not allowed to be here!”

“What is she?” Max asked, “Your little  _ pet _ ?”

“Yeah! Am I your  _ pet _ .” El parroted. 

“What?!” Mike was beginning to panic, “No!”

“Then why do you treat me like garbage?” El asked. 

“WHAT?!” Mike exclaimed again, he knew Max had said things to El, things that weren’t true, things to push them apart more. 

“You said Nana was sick.” El reminded him. 

“She is!” Mike exclaimed, “She is! She is sick!” He turned to Lucas for help. 

“Yeah! Sick. She’s sick!” Lucas added trying to make it sound more believable. 

From behind them Will rolled his eyes and shook his head. This whole situation could have been easily avoided if they had just talked it out. 

“She’s sick!” Mike said again. 

“Yeah, She’s super sick.” Lucas said, “That’s why we’re here actually.”

“Yeah, we’re shopping. Not for us, but for her, for Nana.” Mike explained.

“For Nana!” Lucas exclaimed. 

“We’re also here to get a gift for you.” Mike said as he looked at El. She looked so angry, almost deadly, “It’s just that we couldn’t find anything that suited you and I only have like $3.50, so it’s hard.”

“Super hard.” Lucas parroted, “It’s—It’s expensive.”

El regarded the two for a moment, “You lie.” She said to Mike, “Why do you lie?” She sounded so betrayed. Mike stood there with his jaw dropped. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He knew he couldn’t tell her the truth, she wouldn’t understand the truth. The brakes of the community bus squeaked as it came to a stop infront of the mall. Mike knew that was Max’s and El’s bus and that this was over and that he messed up even more. El turned to look at the bus before turning back to Mike. She took a step forward and for a moment Mike thought she was about to smash the ice cream cone she held in her hand on his face. The words that came out her mouth were not what he expected at all, “I dump your ass.”

Beside her, Max held a look on her face of impressment and was trying desperately to stifle her laughter at the look of shock on Mike’s face. El left abruptly, followed by Max, on to the waiting bus that left moments after the girls boarded. 

Mike, Lucas, and Will all stood there watching the bus drive away. Mike and Lucas were both disappointed in themselves for not having successfully stopped this disaster from happening. 

“Now can we play D&D?” Will asked. 

“No.” Lucas said annoyed. 

Mike didn’t even hear the two beside him. He watched the bus drive further and further away. 

“Let’s just head back home.” Mike quietly said. 

____

On the way back to the Tozier-Wheeler residence Mike had insisted on going to Big Buy, the same place El had robbed of their Eggos nearly 2 years ago. He wanted to get snacks and sodas before going home. 

As soon as they got to Mike’s house they made a beeline to the basement. Mike lounges out on the couch eating the snacks he bought and throwing himself a pity party. Lucas was pacing back and forth because they’ve dug themselves a deep hole and he’s not completely sure how to get out of it. Will went straight to the D&D board he had been setting up and picked up where he had to leave off. 

Mike was going in circles in his head. He was replaying everything that’s happened in the past 24 hours trying to figure out what  _ he _ did wrong. 

“What is wrong with  _ me _ ? What did  _ I _ do wrong?” Mike asked Lucas. 

“Nothing!” Lucas groaned. 

“What did I do wrong? What could I have done wrong?” Mike said for about the 10th time. 

“Mike! Do I have to go through this again?” Lucas asked.

Mike quickly shoved one of the chips into his mouth and said with his mouth full, “I just don’t understand what I did to deserve this?”

“Nothing. Nothing. That’s my whole point! You are the victim here.”

“I know. It’s just, why is she treating me this way?” 

“Mike-“

“What did I do wrong? WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!”

“MIKE! Stop.” Lucas said as he crossed Mike’s legs and moved to sit on the arm of the couch, “Relax. Just relax. Okay? Stop asking rational questions.”

“I know, I know, your right.” Mike agreed. 

“Yeah.”

“Because women act on emotion and not logic.”

“Precisely. It’s a totally different species.”

“Guys! It’s ready.” Will exclaimed trying to pull their attention over to him and to the game he had set up.

“Will, not right now.” Lucas sighed as he tried to suppress rolling his eyes.

“They broke up what you! What else is there to talk about?!” Will sighed. 

“Tons.” Lucas said. 

“Yeah, we’re trying to solve the great mystery of the female species.” Mike said before burping. He snorted, “Dude, you can smell the nacho cheese.” Will groaned in disgust. 

“I got that beat.” Lucas said lowly. 

“What?” Mike asked

“Oh, no.” Will said. 

“No, Lucas, no.”

“No!” Will said in a tone that almost mimicked his mother. 

“Lucas! Lucas!” 

Lucas slowly lifted his leg as he leg out a loud and long fart. Will and Mike both instinctively put their hands over their noses to block the smell. 

“Ha! I win.” Lucas declared.”

“Lucas that’s disgusting!” Mike exclaimed with a loudly exaggerated gag, “Will, open the door!” 

Will quickly ran to the door leading outside to open it. As he moved to the door he swore he saw a fog like shadow of El standing at the steps of the basement like how he saw her while he was in the Upside Down. He blinked and she was gone. He convinced himself it was a trick of the light or something, she was on his mind since Mike wouldn’t shut up about her. He opened the door to let some fresh air in. It was getting late. Nearly 10:30 at night. 

Will shivered slightly before returning back to his seat. Lucas had moved from the edge of the couch to the floor next to the coffee table that was in front of the couch where Mike was laying. Mike had pulled a blanket from the top of the couch down over himself. He and Lucas were still chatting about the girls completely oblivious to Will sitting at the table with the D&D board set up. 

Will felt himself slump down in disappointment as his two friends slowly drifted off into a deep sleep. They didn’t even look at what he had set up. They barely even acknowledged him.

It’s been about 7 months since their last campaign. Will had missed it. He missed the simplicity of being with his friends. He didn’t know when it got so complicated. It’s like he was stuck while his friends moved on rather easily. 

He got up to close and lock the door he had opened to allow fresh air in before laying down in a sleeping bag Mike had lazily thrown out for Will.

_ Tomorrow _ , Will told himself,  _ tomorrow will be different _ . 

And with that Will let himself drift to sleep. 

**_Monday, June 19_ **

Mike woke up with a start. He jumped out of skin as he was awoken by loud medieval music. Medieval music that he had used to play for the Party when they played campaigns. He didn’t know where it was coming from until he turned his head to see Will standing proudly wearing his old wizard costume and playing music from the boombox. 

“What are you doing?!” Lucas exclaimed, he too was woken by the music. 

“Yeah, Will, can you turn down the music.” Mike shouted. 

“Please address me by my full name.” Will declared. 

“What?!” Mike exclaimed. 

“My full name!” Will demanded as he slammed his staff down. 

“Oh my god. Okay, Will the Wise, can you please turn down the music.” Mike scoffed. 

“That is  _ not _ music.  _ That _ … is the sound of destiny! I have seen into the future, and I’ve seen that today is a new day!” Will happily exclaimed, “...a day...free of girls.”

“What is happening right now?” Lucas asked in his sleep driven state.

“Will, come on.” Mike complained. 

Will swooped down low so he was level with the table looking over the game he had been setting up “A tribe of villagers are under threat from an evil force from the swamps of Kuzatan.”

“Will, it’s so early.” Mike whined. 

“Is it? Is it early Michael? Last time I checked it was 11:30. We have left the villagers crying for your help waiting to long. The children that are so frightened, that they cannot sleep are you truly going to let them perish because you think it’s too early? Or are you going to come to their rescue and become the heroes you were always meant to be?”

“Uh….can I at least take a shower first?” Lucas said dumbly.

____

Outside of the Tozier-Wheeler home a storm was brewing. Thunder was beginning to rumble as tension inside the basement of the home was growing stronger.

“Do you guys hear that?” Will asked, “It sounds like thunder. But, no, wait. That’s not thunder it’s…” Will trailed off as he reached behind the book setup in front of him and grabbed the figures before slamming them on to the table like Mike would when he was usually dungeon masters “a horde of juju zombies! Sir Mike! What’s your action?”

“What should I do?” Mike asked as he looked at Lucas.

Lucas was slumped down in his chair and briefly said, “Attack?”

“Okay, I attack with my flail.” Mike said in a monotone voice as he gently rolled the dice.

“Whoosh! You miss. Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie horde lumbers toward you, and…” Will quickly rolled his dice to see the action, “The juju bites your arm. Flesh tears! Ahhh!! Seven points of damage!”

“Oh, no, my arm. Lucas, look, my arm.” Mike sarcastically said as he pretended to cradle his arm. 

Lucas began to snicker. Will looks at Mike in a disappointed way. Mike wasn’t playing like they used to. Will excitedly turned to Lucas before saying, “Sir Lucas, the zombie horde roars! Do you fight back or do you run?”

Lucas looks questioning towards Will. He is about to say something when the phone suddenly rings. Both Lucas and Mike look at it before looking back at each other. They had been waiting for El to call. It  _ must _ be her. 

“No!” Will exclaimed trying to keep their attention on the game, “It’s a distraction! A trap. Do  _ not _ answer it.” Mike and Lucas both look back at each other before jumping up and running to the phone, “What...no!” Will exclaimed. 

Mike quickly picked up the phone, “El? No. Sorry, not interested.” He sighed before hanging up the phone and slumping against the wall, “Telemarketers.”

“Maybe we should just call them?” Lucas suggested.

“We can do that?” Mike asked. 

“I think so.” Lucas said. 

“Yeah, but what would we say?” Mike asked. 

“We’ll say nothing! The Khuisar tribe still needs your help.” Will exclaimed.

“All right, then. I’ll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus, and saving the Khuisar. We all live on as heroes in the memories of the Kalamar.” Mike said resisting the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Victory.” Lucas said in a monotone voice as he and Mike high fived. 

“Okay.” Will harshly threw his staff on the ground before ripping off his hat as well and throwing it onto the ground, “Fine. You guys win.” Will stopped the music before ripping off the cloak as well, “Congratulations.”

“Will, I was just messing around.” Mike said immediately. He didn’t realize that it would be such a big deal, “Hey, let’s finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?” Mike asked as he moved back to the table and began to sit down. 

“Just forget it, Mike!” Will yelled as he began to gather his stuff into his bag. 

“No, you want to want to keep playing, right?” Mike asked as he turned to Lucas for help.

“Y-yeah, totally.” Lucas said quickly.

“We’ll just call the girl afterwards.” Mike suggested.

“I said forget it, Mike! Okay?” Will yelled causing Mike to jump slightly. He’s never heard Will yell before, other than when he was possessed by the mind flayer but that didn’t count because that wasn’t really Will, “I’m going home.” Will said as he made a beeline toward the steps. 

“Come on, Will.” Lucas tried to stop Will by grabbing his arm as he walked by him. 

“Move!” Will said as he harshly pushed Lucas out of the way and ran up the stairs. 

Mike and Lucas both stood there dumbly for a second or two. They didn’t know Will was going to explode like that. 

Mike quickly ran up the stairs after Will. He followed Will outside to his garage where the family station wagon was parked. It was pouring outside. It reminded Mike of two things. Looking for Will when he first went missing but then finding El and that Georgie Denbrough had gone missing and was probably killed while playing out in a storm like this. 

“Will, come on. You  _ can’t _ leave. It’s raining.” Will stood there in front of his bike still stuffing his wizard cloak into his bag, “Listen, I said I was sorry, alright? It’s a cool campaign. It’s really cool. We’re just not in the mood right now.” Mike tried explaining. 

“Yeah, Mike. That’s the problem. You guys are  _ never  _ in the mood anymore. You’re ruining our party.” Will shouted. 

“That’s not true!”

“Really? When was the last time the four of us, you, me, Lucas, and Dustin, hung out and did something together without the girls! When was the last time we even played D&D?!” Mike stood there dumbly. He didn’t know the answer, “See. You don’t know and obviously don’t even care! It’s been 7 months! We haven’t played since Max moved here and El came back! You’re destroying everything, and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?!”

“El’s  _ not _ stupid!  _ It’s not my fault you don’t like girls _ !” Mike shouted quickly. 

Will stood there in shock. He felt tears begin to prick his eyes. That’s something he’d expect Henry Bowers, Troy Walsh, or even his own father to say.  _ Not _ Mike Wheeler, his best friend since kindergarten. Who was always understanding of Will. Will refused to believe that whoever this person in front was Mike Wheeler. Mike Wheeler abandoned Will 7 months ago it seems. 

It seemed like Mike had shocked himself as well. They both stood there for a few moments. The only sound was the sound of the pouring rain hitting the ground and the sound of thunder rumbling.

Mike sighed, “I’m not trying to be a jerk. Okay? But we’re not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”

“Yeah, I guess I did.” Will sniffled slightly, “I _really_ _did_.” Will got onto his bike and turned his back to Mike and rode away. 

“Will.” Mike called out trying to get Will to stay, “WILL!”

Tears were coming down Will’s face now as he softly whispered in a voice Mike wasn’t meant toh hear, but he did,”Fuck you Mike.” before disappearing into the rain. 

“Shit!” Mike exclaimed as Will was completely out of his sight. He ran a hand through his hair gently tugging at it. 

Suddenly the light on the porch began to flicker, the same light that flickers on and off the night Will had gone missing. 

“Will?” Mike called out as he looked into the rain. He didn’t see any sign of his best friend, if he could even still call him that. As he was looking out he saw something run across the driveway behind his father’s car. It was a tall figure that was too tall to be Will. It almost reminded Mike of...of the demogorgon. He heard low but deep screeches from every direction, “WILL!” He shouted. He saw the figure run across the driveway once more, but this time it stopped, and Mike could see it. The demogorgon stood in it’s 7 foot glory peering at Mike from the end of his driveway. 

Mike felt his breath catch in his throat as he tried to let out a scream, but nothing came out. The monster then came towards Mike. His heart was pounding as he ran back into the house and down stairs to the basement where Lucas seemed to be waiting in one of the seats at the table. 

“What happened? Where’s Will?” Lucas asked. 

“We need to go.” Mike exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath. 

“What?” Lucas quickly stood up. 

“We need to go,  _ right now. _ We got into a bad fight and he left. We need to find him before, god forbid, something bad happens.” Mike yelled. 

The two ran out the door frantically grabbing raincoats. Mike quickly threw Richie’s rain coat at Lucas before the two of them ran to the garage to get on their bikes. Mike was almost relieved that the demogorgon was gone, but that meant it could have followed Will. 

“Where would he have gone?” Lucas asked. 

“Home.” Mike said as the two of them pedaled as fast as they could down the street to Mirkwood. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week: Will Byers


	6. Will Byers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will makes some new friends and finds out the nightmare isn’t over.

**Chapter 6** : Will Byers

**_Monday, June 19_ **

Will woke up early, well 9:00am early. He saw that Mike and Lucas were still sleeping so he headed upstairs to see if he could get something to eat before they woke up. He was met by Mike’s mother, little sister and his twin brother, Richie. 

“Good morning Will.” Karen said kindly as she flipped some pancakes at the stove, “Are Mike and Lucas up yet?”

“Not yet, Mrs. T-W.” Will said as he sat down at the table. 

“How many times do I have to tell you, call me Karen.” Karen insisted. 

“Sorry, Karen.” Will said. 

“Would you like some pancakes?” Karen asked as she brought over the freshly made pancakes to the table. She slid two onto Richie’s plate and one onto Holly’s. 

“Yes please, if you don’t mind.” Will said. Karen quickly scooped the last two of the batch onto a plate for Will before returning back to the stove to make some more. 

“So, Richie you’re up early today.” Karen noted, “Why’s that?”

“What makes you think I’m not up on my own free will?” Richie asked in a challenging tone. 

“Because I know you. If I don’t wake you you’ll sleep until 2. So there has to be a reason.” Karen said as she brought over more pancakes and put them on a plate in the middle of the table. She took two for herself and sat down next to Holly. 

“Well fuck mom, you got me.” Richie said. 

“Richard, don’t use that kind of language.” Karen scolded, “Especially in front of your little sister.”

Will resisted the urge to start laughing out loud, Richie’s the type of guy who’s mouth works faster than his brain and he says things without thinking. He’s always been that way, even when they were little. Granted they weren’t technically friends and were only associated with each by being Mike’s twin brother and his best friend. 

“Sorry Mum.” Richie said before stuffing some pancakes into his mouth, “Me and Bill are going over to Eddie’s, then meeting up with Stanley at the synagogue. I’ll probably stay over at Bill’s house after.” Richie explained with a mouth full of pancakes. 

“Sounds fun, what about you Will? Are you boys doing anything today?” Karen asked. 

“I was hoping to play Dungeons and Dragons. I have a campaign set up, so when they wake up we’ll be playing that.” Will said.

“Dungeons and Dragons? It’s been awhile since you’ve guys played that.” Karen noted.

“Yeah well everyone’s been busy lately. Mike and Lucas have, well  _ had _ , girlfriends and Dustin is always hanging out with Steve Harrington, so I’m trying to make the most of the time they’re free.”

“You mean Mike’s fake girlfriend?” Richie said. 

Will actually did laugh at that, “She’s real-“

“I ain’t ever seen her. I’ll believe it when I see it.” Richie said as he got up and put his now empty plate into the sink. He glanced at the time. It was 9:30, “Welp, I’ll be going now. Bye Mum. Bye Holly Jolly.” He turned to face Will, “Bye zombie boy.” Richie teased, knowing Mike gets extremely angry when Richie calls Will that, but Will knows that Richie means no harm by it. 

“Zombie boy?!” Karen gasped, “Richard that’s extre-“

“It doesn’t bother me Karen.” Will said quickly to avoid Richie getting in trouble for a stupid name. And truthfully, Will meant it. Richie just calls everyone anything that pops to his head and Will knows Richie’s just trying to be funny and not make fun of him. 

“...if you say so.” Karen shrugged, “Richie call me later. I want to know where you are, none of that forgetting to call me bullshit you pull.” Karen rarely cursed, when she did it was to get a point across.

“Got it Mum.” Richie said, “Bye.” 

And with that Richie left the house. Little did Karen know that her son was going into the sewers to look for Georgie Denbrough, but then again almost all of her kids, minus Holly and that’s only because she’s 5, lived a whole life that she didn’t know about. 

“Will you guys be good on your own?” Karen asked, “I was planning on getting some groceries shopping done today.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about us.” Will said.

Karen smiled as she gathered up Holly's, Will’s, and her own empty plates and put them in the sink to be washed later. Holly hopped up from her seat and trailed behind her mother. 

“Thank you for breakfast Karen.” Will said before Karen and Holly left. 

“You’re welcome. It was nice to see you Will.” Karen said. 

“Bye Will!” Holly called out cheerfully as the mother and daughter left, leaving Will alone in the kitchen. 

He walked back downstairs to the basement to find Mike and Lucas still asleep. He figured that he’d let them sleep a little longer. In the meantime Will busied himself with checking his board. 

Chaos was coming for Will in less than 2 hours but for now he enjoyed the peace and was daydreaming about his campaign and how it would go. 

____

Will wasn’t sure where he was going. All he knew is that he had to get far away from Mike and Lucas. It was made abundantly clear that the pair didn’t want him around and quite frankly Will didn’t want to be around them either at the moment. 

Mike had used things against Will that he’d never excepted him too and Will didn’t know what he meant by it. 

_ It’s not my fault you don’t like girls _

Did Mike think that it wasn’t his fault Will wasn’t interested in girls yet, or girls at all? Either way, it’s a low jab. That was the kind of insult that Henry Bowers or Will’s father would use against him. 

As Will rode away he heard Mike’s voice getting further and further away. He was calling Will, telling him to come back. The tears were freely falling down Will’s face mixing with the rain. 

He nearly falls off his bike when a loud booming voice from the house he’s passing calls for him. He looks at the house. It’s the Denbroughs house. There was a group of kids standing in and around the doorway waving him in like he was a ship lost at sea. 

“WILL!” The voices shouted, “WILL BYERS!” Will quickly glanced behind him. He sees Mike’s house at the end of the street. It wouldn’t be long until Mike and Lucas got the bright idea to follow him. They’d never find him if he was here and not home, or Castle Byers. 

So Will rode towards the house. He carelessly threw his bike down on the ground, where there were 3 other bikes thrown down and one that was up with the kickstand, before walking toward the house. He was freezing cold from the rain. He hoped he hadn’t caught a cold when out in the rain, he wasn’t out there for long. 

Upon getting closer to the door he could make out that it was Richie, Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, and the new kid, Ben H something. Will couldn’t remember what his last name was for the life of him. 

“Jesus, zombie boy. What were you doing out in the rain?” Richie said as the boys ushered Will inside. The boy looked exactly like Mike but had glasses and heterocromia in his eyes making one eye a dark brown and the other a light baby blue, “Are you okay?” Richie asked. It sounded exactly like Mike. The same soft tone, the same gentle and kind concerned voice. It made Will start to fall back into old habits. 

“I...I don’t know, I guess I am Physically...” Will trailed off. He was soaking wet and dripping water all over the floor. 

“D-duh-do you want to ch-ch-chu-change?” Bill asked. 

“Um… if you don’t mind.” Will chuckled nervously. 

Bill nodded as he quickly ran up the stairs to his room. He returned a few moments later with a sweatshirt and a pair sweatpants. He handed them to Will.

“The b-b-bathroom is over thu-there.” Bill said as he pointed down a small hall leading to the kitchen. Along the wall is a door, “Thuh-there’s towels u-under the sink.”

Will nodded and said a quiet thank you before scurrying to the bathroom. As promised, there were towels under the sink. Will grabbed one and used it to wipe his face. He was still upset. The tears running down his face could easily be mistaken for the rain he was drenched in as well. 

He quickly changed into the clothes Bill had given him. They were a bit big on him considering Bill was a couple of inches taller than Will. He washed his face at the sink before returning back to the living room where the 5 boys were lounging playing monopoly. 

Will felt a twinge of jealousy run through him. They were playing so calmly together. None of them annoyed or focused on anything else. It was the complete opposite of what he had just left. It made Will envious for that part of his childhood. He just wanted to play a simple game but it became something much more complicated like everything else in his life. He doesn’t remember how it got that way. It’s like he woke up one day and the rest of his friends had moved on with their lives while Will was still stuck reliving the nightmare that was the falls of 1987 and 1988.

“Zombie boy, want to play?” Richie called out when he saw Will standing there. 

“But you already started.” Will pointed out as he sat down next to him on the floor. 

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m restarting now, no offense Will, but I just got the boardwalk and I’m not giving that up.” Eddie said. 

Will chuckled, “None taken, I’m fine with just watching.”

“Whatever floats your boat zombie boy.” Richie said as he rolled the dice and moved his piece 4 spaces and paid Stan the money for landing on his spot, “Hey, why were you in the rain anyways? I thought you and the nerds were playing D&D today.”

“We were, but then we had a bad fight.” Will said nervously. 

“A fight? That doesn’t sound like you guys.” Richie said. 

“It’s a long story, I don’t really want to get into it right now, it’s kind of complicated. All I know is that I need to be away from them for a little while.”

“Understandable, but what are you going to do now? It  _ is _ summer.” Eddie asked. 

Will shrugged, “Probably just stay at home or hang out with my mom at her work or even Jonathan, he’d probably let me stay with him at The Derry Post.”

“Dude that’s depressing, just hang out with us.” Richie suggested. 

“I don’t want to intrude-“

“You’re not.” Richie assured. 

“If anything, I’m the one intruding.” Ben suddenly said in an attempt to get Will to agree, “They actually know you. I’m just the random kid they saved from Henry Bowers.”

“I guess we’re picking up strays now.” Stan joked, “Neither of you are intruding. We’re losers. Hell we call ourselves the Losers Club, if you both are losers you qualify to hang out with us.”

“Well when you put it like that.” Will laughed. 

“Willy Wonka you should-“ Richie started to say. 

“Willy Wonka?” Eddie questioned. 

“Yes, Willy Wonka, like the chocolate factory. Don’t ya get it Eddie Spaghetti?”

“Don’t call me that.” Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Anyways, Willy Wonka, you should come with us to the quarry tomorrow.”Richie suggested. 

“The quarry?” Will asked. Memories of Mike telling Will how they pulled the body they thought was his and then Mike himself willingly jumping into that same quarry to save Dustin from Troy flashed into Will’s mind. 

“Oh shit, sorry I forgot, I-“ Richie stammered out quickly as he remembered about the body being found and believed to be Will’s at Sattler Quarry.

“No, it’s fine, which quarry?” Will asked, hoping it wasn’t Sattler Quarry and rather-

“Bellwood.” Eddie said, “We never go to Sattler.”

“That sounds fun. I don’t have anything else to do, so I’d love to come with.” Will accepted. 

The Losers beamed, glad that Will accepted. It was nearly 5:30 when the Monopoly game ended with Stan being the winner. It was still storming hard outside. Bill felt very wary about sending everyone home in the storm.

“D-duh-do you guys w-want to spend the na-night?” Bill asked, “I h-have the Star W-wars truh-truh-trilogy.”

“All of us?” Ben questioned, he’s never had a sleepover before. He’s never had friends who wanted to. 

“Yeah, I w-would hate to s-send everyone h-home in the r-rain.” Bill simply explained, “My p-p-parent don’t r-really muh-mind.”

“Okay, I just have to call my mom. She’s expecting me home soon.” Ben agreed. 

“Oh yeah, me too.” Will agreed.

“The p-phones over there.” Bill said as he pointed to the phone on the wall.

Ben went first and when he was done he let Will have it next. He dialed the number he knew by heart, after 2 rings it picked up.

“Hello?” The voice of Joyce Byers called through the phone. 

“Hey mom.” Will said. 

“Hey sweetie, what’s up?” Joyce fondly said. 

“Nothing much, I wanted to let you know I’m spending the night at Bill Denbrough’s house tonight.”

“Bill Denbrough? How’d you end up there? Weren’t you at Mike’s?” Joyce asked. 

“Yeah, um Richie invited us to hang out with his friends and we accepted. We just ended up at Bill’s.” Will lied. He didn’t want to explain the fight to his mom on the phone, it would be torturous.

“Okay, when should I expect you home tomorrow?” Joyce asked. 

“I’m not sure, probably a little late tomorrow. We were going to hang out more during the day tomorrow.” Will explained. 

“Okay, well have fun! I’ll see you tomorrow.” Joyce said, “I love you sweetie.”

“Thanks, mom. I love you too, bye.” Will said before hanging up. 

If you would have told Will 24 hours earlier that he’d be spending the night with Richie Tozier-Wheeler and his friends, Will would have laughed. It’s not how he expected the day to go but he’s not going to complain, it’s better than fighting with Mike or being ignored. Richie and his friends were like a blank slate. They had no idea what he’s been through and won’t treat him any different because of it. It was complete bliss and Will planned on enjoying every second he could of it because it felt like he wasn’t alone. 

**_Tuesday, June 20_ **

When Richie asked Will if he wanted to go to the quarry, he wasn’t expecting this. All 6 of the boys had stripped down to their underwear at the top of the 30 foot tall cliff. 

He thinks it was either Bill or Richie who suggested it, but they were planning on jumping off the cliff into the water. Thankfully Richie had distracted everyone from the real reason they were there. He spit out a loogie causing an impromptu loogie competition between the boys. 

Richie spit another one out over the cliff which was followed by Stan, then Bill, then Ben, Will , and then Eddie. 

“It’s so easy!” Richie kept chanting. Eddie went last. His loogie didn’t even go off the cliff, “Oh my God, that was terrible. I win.” Richie declared. 

“ _ You _ won?” Eddie challenged. 

“Yeah.”

“Did you see my loogie?” Eddie's voice got all squeaky. 

“Mine went the farthest!” Richie exclaimed, “It’s by distance!”

“Mass! It’s always been mass!”

“Wha….what is mass?” Richie stammered.

“How cares how far it goes? It matters how cool it looks, like it’s green or it’s white or juicy and fat.” Eddie ranted. Will chucked to himself. Richie and Eddie bickering felt familiar. It reminded him almost of Lucas and Dustin bickering, but Richie and Eddie were different somehow, like it more Lucas and Max. 

“Alright.” Will’s thoughts were cut short by Bill, “Who’s f-first?”

Will felt his hands shake nervously as they all peered over the cliff. 30 feet seemed so much bigger from all the way up there. 

“I’ll go!” A voice called out. The boys turned around to see Bev Marsh standing there in a white dress and newly short red hair. Nobody told Will she was coming to. She quickly unbuttoned her dress revealing a white bra and blue underwear. She looked up to see the boys standing there in shock, “sissies.” She teased before running and jumping off the cliff. 

“ _ What the fuck _ !” Richie exclaimed as he watched Bev free fall into the water with a splash, “Holy  _ shit _ ! We just got showed up by a girl!”

“We have to do that now?” Stan’s voice quivered slightly. 

“Yes.” Eddie said. 

“Come on!” Bev called from the water below.

Bill was the second one to jump, followed by Richie, who had taken his glasses off and was holding them in his hand as he jumped. Will went after Richie, thinking if he didn’t jump then he wouldn’t jump at all. He landed in the water moments later. Richie had grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. For a second he forgot himself and forgot it was Richie, he thought it was Mike. 

Soon Eddie, Stan, and Ben followed and they were swimming towards the shallower water closer to the shore. 

Richie splashed everyone in one swoosh. Everyone reacted quickly by splashing back. Eddie went as far as jumping in Richie’s back trying to knock him over. 

“Let’s play chicken!” Richie exclaimed, “William and me vs. Billiam and Stanthony!” Richie suggested, “May the best William, or Billiam, win!”

They agreed and soon Will was hoisted onto Richie’s shoulders as Bill was hoisted onto Stan’s. Both Bill and Will grabbed at each other once close enough. Will got a good push in and managed to make Bill tumble off of Stan’s shoulders sending Stan into the water as well. 

“Yeah! Zombie boy!” Richie cheered as he let Will down. 

Soon they did another round, Richie and Ben vs. Bill and Bev. Will was with Stan and Eddie. The three of them all laughing as they splashed each other. 

Will felt relieved. He doesn’t know the last time he laughed this hard and it felt good to be a kid again. 

____

Will had lost track of time. But at some point they had moved over to the rocks and were sitting there all together. Stan and Eddie had run back up to the top of the quarry to grab their bags and clothes before returning with their bags which were all sprawled out beside them on the ground.

They were all chatting amongst themselves as Bev set up a towel on the ground for herself. 

“Holy shit Will!” Richie suddenly exclaimed, concern was evident in his voice. 

Will looked up at Richie in confusion before looking around to see if he could figure out what had caused Richie sudden outburst, “what?” Will asked. 

“What happened there?” Richie asked as he pointed to Will’s side. Will tensed up as he realized what Richie was asking about. The burn mark scar from when his mother, Jonathan, and Nancy had burned the Mind Flayer out of him last fall. 

“It’s a long story.” Will said hoping it would change the subject. 

“It looks like it was pretty serious.” Eddie said, “Seriously, how  _ did  _ you get it?”

“Nancy.” Will said before he could stop himself, hopefully he can lie himself out this. 

“My sister Nancy?!” Richie exclaimed. Bev had turned around from where she was setting up a spot to sunbathe to listen as well, “How the fuck did that happen?”

“It was a freak accident.” Will lied, “We have a fireplace at my house, and Nancy had picked up the fire poker thing and I...fell into it.”

“You fell on to the fire poker that Nancy was holding?” Eddie asked in disbelief. 

“Yep.”

They all slowly turned away from their conversation as it grew more and more awkward. It was evident to the Losers that Will was lying about what really happened, but they didn’t push him to tell. They’d probably scare the boy away, and they didn’t want to do that. 

Bev turned the boom box that Richie had grabbed from his house before leaving for the quarry. She then laid down to sunbathe. The boys were watching Bev sunbathe. The Losers all seemed so engrossed by her. Will admittedly was as well, but not for the same reasons. He knew he wasn’t like his friends, he wasn’t even like the Losers it seems. He’s never found girls attractive in the way he’s supposed to. That’s why what Mike said had effected him so much. He thinks Mike saw right through his chaurade and knows about  _ that _ part of him, that it was somehow obvious. 

Maybe if he forced himself to look he’d see the reason why he couldn’t like girls or he’d magically like girls. He’s not sure. It probably sounds stupid out loud. 

Bev slowly turned her head towards the 6 boys. They all turned their heads and gasped in surprise as they were basically found out. 

Thank god for Richie. He quickly changed the subject by rummaging through Ben’s bag, “News flash Ben! Schools out for summa!” Richie exclaimed in his announcer voice. 

“Oh that?” Ben asked, “That’s not school stuff.”

Richie finally pulled something out of the bag. It appeared to be a postcard from Derry, “Who sent you this?” Richie exclaimed as he moved to turn it around to read it. 

“No one. Give it…” Ben said quickly as he snatched the postcard and held it close to his chest so no one could see it. Seconds later Richie pulled out a bluish green folder and opened it to reveal tons of papers. 

“What’s with the history project?” Eddie asked as he peered over Richie’s shoulder to see. Richie quickly handed the folder over to Bill for him to see. Will scooted slightly closer to Bill so he could see as well. 

“Oh...well when I first moved here I didn’t have anyone to hang out with, so I just started spending time in the library.”

“You went to the library? On  _ purpose _ ?” Richie asked.

“I can’t get over how different you and Mike are.” Will said, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. 

“Micheal doesn’t possess half the charm I got.” Richie said. 

“Yeah, that’s because he has all of it.” Stan stated. 

“Low blow Stanny, low blow.”

“I want to see your research Ben.” Bev said as she got up and moved between Bill and Will. Will felt an uneasy feeling wash over him as he read the article that Ben had in the folder. One about the explosion at the Ironworks and the other about a massacre that had happened in Derry in the earlier part of the century. 

“What's the black spot?” Stan questioned. 

“The black spot was a nightclub that was burned down years ago by that racist cult.” Eddie explained. 

From beside him Will heard Bill turn to Bev and stutter out, “Your h-h-hair…”

“Your...your hair is beautiful, Beverly.” Ben finished for Bill. 

“Oh…” Bev said as she brushed her short hair behind her ear and blushed slightly, “Right. Thanks.”

Will watched the awkward exchange between Bill and Ben and couldn’t help but think of Dustin and Lucas when Max first moved to Derry. 

“Here, pass it.” Richie said. Will quickly threw the article he had back into the folder before Bill passed the folder back. 

Richie opened it and flipped through it, “Why is it all murders and missing kids?” Richie asked. Will felt everyone’s eyes flick towards him for a split second before Ben replied to Richie’s question. 

“Derry’s not like any town I’ve ever been in before.” Ben stated, “They did a study once, and it turns out people die or go disappear 6 times the national average.”

Will felt a chill run through him as both Stan’s and Eddie’s eyes lingered towards him. Will felt like he should say something.  _ Just tell them about the upside down, _ Will thought to himself,  _ Bill will finally have the answers as to what happened to his brother or a vague understanding if we’re wrong and is actually connected to the Upside Down.  _

“You  _ read _ that?” Bev softly asked. 

“And that’s just grown-ups.” Ben said blissfully unaware of Will and his disappearance, “Kids are worse. Way, way worse.”By now everyone, but Ben was staring at Will. Ben had heard about the Zombie Boy but didn’t realize it was Will, “I’ve got more stuff if you wanna see it.” Ben offered. 

Eddie began to frantically shake his head no. Will agreed with Eddie, but didn’t say it. It was summer and he wanted to get away from  _ that.  _ But fate was not on his side. 

“If y-you d-d-duh-don’t mind.” Bill said.

____

Will should have come up with an excuse to leave. He really didn’t want to know about the dark history Derry apparently had. The thought of it alone chilled him to the bone. His mother once offhandedly mentioned that Hopper said nothing bad ever happened in the 4 years Hopper was chief before Will went missing. But apparently the history went deeper, darker. Stuff they had probably pushed out of their minds and forgot about. It happened all the way back to when his parents were in high school. 

The Black Spot specifically happened when his parents were in high school, but Joyce had no recollection of the Black Spot, neither did his father, or Hopper. It was Bob who told Will the story of the Black Spot, of course this was before Bob passed. 

He felt like going to Ben’s house to look up the history of Derry was uncovering something meant to be hidden and that  _ had _ to stay hidden. There was no turning back once they looked at this stuff. It will make everything real. 

Will, along with Richie and his friends, passed Dustin’s house on the way to Ben’s. Ben only lived 6 houses down from Dustin’s. Ben came to a stop in front of a small house, probably only a two bedroom house. Ben quickly jumped off his bike before darting inside. Will plopped his bike down to the ground next to Bev’s before running after Ben, Bill, Stan, and Bev as they ran inside. 

Little did the small group know that the woman standing at the electric line next to Ben’s house was stapling a flier up for yet another missing kid, Patrick Hocksetter who went missing, or rather was killed, while looking for Ben the day before. 

Will walked slowly into the room. Ben had run ahead to quickly attempt to clean his room before they came in. He saw Ben quickly toss dirty clothes into the closet before awkwardly acting like he was just leaning against the door. 

Will quickly turned his attention toward the wall’s, quickly forgetting about Ben. He heard Richie making small comments as Will walked to the wall. Behind Will, Bill was looking at maps on projector films that Ben had on a table in front of the window. Will found a small corner of the wall that was almost specifically about what happened to Will and everything with Hawkins lab. He felt uncomfortable. He felt like a statistic. 

He turned his attention away from the article that held his face on it to what Stan, Eddie, and Richie were looking at. It was easier not to acknowledge it. 

“What’s that?” Stan asked as he pointed to the long piece of paper taped to the wall. 

“Oh that? That’s the charter for Derry Township.” Ben explained. 

“Nerd alert.” Richie teased as he adjusted his glasses. 

“No, actually, it’s really interesting.” Ben said, “Derry started as a beaver trapping camp-“

“Still is, am I right boys!” Richie joked as he turned for a high-five. Stan shook his head disapprovingly. Will sighed before tuning back into what Ben was saying.

“91 people signed the charter that made Derry. But later that winter, they all disappeared without a trace.”

“The  _ entire _ camp?” Eddie asked. 

“There were rumors of Indians, but no sign of an attack. Everybody just thought it was a plaque of something. But it’s like one day everybody just woke up and left. The only clue was a trail of bloody clothes leading to the well house.” Ben explained as he heard the door creak behind him. He whipped around to face Bev who was slowly pushing the door back. 

“Jesus. We can get Derry on Unsolved Mysteries.” Richie said. 

Ben stared at Bev with a mortified and pleading look as she revealed his New Kids On The Block poster on his door. She winked at Ben before pushing the door back again and joined the boys in looking at the research Ben had taped to the wall. 

“W-w-whuh-Where was the w-well h-huh-house?” Bill asked. 

“I don’t know.” Ben shrugged, “Somewhere in town, I guess. Why?”

“Nothing.” Bill whispered. In the moment Will knew Bill’s true intentions. Bill reminded Will a lot of Jonathan, and Jonathan would stop at nothing to find his little brother. Bill wanted to find Georgie and he thought the well house was the key piece in finding Georgie. 

“Oh shit!” Eddie exclaimed he was looking at his watch. 

“What?” Stan asked. 

“It’s nearly 4:30. I told my mom I’d be home by 4:45.” Eddie exclaimed, “I’m sorry, I have to leave. Thanks for sharing this stuff with us Ben.” Eddie said as he started to walk out. 

“I should probably get going as well, my dad will probably want to go over stuff for my Bar Mitzvah,  _ again _ .” Stan said. Slowly everyone started to agree saying that they should get home as well. 

“Wait,” Ben called as everyone started to gather their bikes and paused to turn to Ben, “I...thank you again for helping me yesterday. It was really cool of you.”

“No problem!” Richie exclaimed, “You’re pretty cool yourself Haystack, can we get your phone number? Then we could hang out again later.” 

Ben agreed before rushing inside and grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled out his number and handed it to Richie. Richie tore it off the paper before writing his number onto the remaining paper for Ben to have.

Everyone started to bid each other goodbye as they made their way home. Richie, Eddie, Stan, and Bill all went west as Bev and Will went east. 

Bev and Will quietly biked next to each other. Their houses were both on the east side of town. Bev lived a little further north and closer to Main Street than Will, but still pretty close to his house. 

“Hey, I don’t mean to pry, but why weren’t you with your friends today?” Bev suddenly asked. 

“Oh...we um… had a fight.” Will supplied dumbly. 

“I’m sorry to hear that. You guys seem so close at school, I’m sure everything will turn out well.”

“I hope you're right but this time it just… feels different?” Will admitted. 

“I get that.” Bev said. 

“I… I like your hair, short hair suits you.” Will changed the subject.

“Thank you, I actually did it myself.” Bev quietly said. 

“Really? You did a good job.”

“It...felt liberating...like I was leaving a past version of myself behind me.” 

“Maybe I should do the same.” Will said half joking, he’s had the same haircut his whole life. 

“Do you want to?”

“What?”

“Do you  _ want _ a different haircut?” The question some how felt deeper, like Bev was asking if he wanted to change. If he  _ needed _ to change.

Will considered the idea for a moment, “Yes.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“Help? Are you offering me a haircut?” 

“Why not? My dad won’t be home until 6:30, we have time.”

“...let’s do it.”

____

45 minutes later Will found himself peering into the mirror in Bev’s bathroom at what felt like a new him. His hair was much shorter. In a way it almost looked like Bill’s hair but Will’s was slightly longer and his bangs were still laying across his forehead unlike Bill’s who’s bangs were swooped to the side. 

“Oh my god…” Will trailed off as he looked at himself in the mirror. 

Bev beamed proudly at her work from beside him, “You like it?”

“Like it? No, I  _ love _ it!” Will said, “Is it weird that I feel much older now?”

“No, I felt the same yesterday.” Bev laughed. 

“I’ve literally never had my hair this short. I’ve always just had the bowl cut.” Will said.

“I guess we’re both shedding our skins so to speak,” Bev said as they wandered into Bev’s where the balcony was, “We’re becoming better versions of ourselves.”

“I…” Will trailed off, “Thank you Beverly.”

“Please, just call me Bev.” Bev insisted, “It was my pleasure. You’re a really nice guy Will, I’m glad we got to hang out today.”

“You're pretty cool too, I think you’d be good friends with two of my friends, Max and El, if we ever get the chance to all hang out.”

“I could use some girl friends.” Bev said as she checked the time, “I don’t want to be a buzz kill, but it’s nearly 5:45 and my dad will be here in less than an hour…” Bev trailed off.

“Oh, no I completely understand.” Will said as he picked up his bag from where he placed it on the ground next to Bev’s bed, “Thank you Bev.”

Bev smiled as Will climbed out her window to the balcony that had stairs all the way down to the ground, “Goodbye Will.” 

Will waved goodbye to Bev as he climbed on to his bike. Bev’s words were ringing through his head as he headed home. 

_ We’re both shedding our skins so to speak, we’re becoming better versions of ourselves. _

Will then thought about what Mike said to him yesterday. 

_ We’re not kids anymore.  _

Will took a left turn into the woods off of Mirkwood heading toward Castle Byers that was in the woods a small ways from his house. 

When he got there it was almost as if a sense of serenity washed over him. He finally got a moment alone, a moment to think. 

He looked around at the photos he had. He picked up the comic he had splayed on the ground from the last time he was there, which was nearly 2 weeks ago with Dustin. They had been reading comics together and Dustin finally gave Will his X-Men 134 which he had promised to give Will the day of his disappearance. The comic was now pretty much ruined from the rain storm the day prior. The pages were stuck together and wrinkling.

Will tossed the comic to the side in frustration. He let his gaze fall into the pictures and a D&D game book he had taped up on the makeshift wall of Castle Byers. 

He looked at the game book and remembered the games of D&D they used to play before things got complicated. His eyes then call onto the two pictures of him and his friends. The one from when they won the science fair and then them in their Ghostbusters costumes on Halloween last year. 

The memories echoed through his head and tears began to well up at his eyes. Things had changed. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin had changed. Will had simultaneously stayed the same and changed. He got stuck. He got left behind again. He was trying to hold onto what he could of his childhood while he still could. 

“Stupid. Stupid. So stupid.” Will mumbled to himself as he picked up the ghostbusters and ripped it in half before ripping all the other things off the wall. He had tears streaming down his face as he mourned the loss of his childhood. He grabbed a baseball bat his father had gifted him when he was 7 and crawled out of Castle Byers with the bat in hand. Without hesitation, Will swung the bat down in the front of Castle Byers. He struck it until it fell in on itself. He then struck the foundation keeping the structure upright. 

He eventually threw the bat to the ground with a frustrated shout as he lunged forward and pulled the piece down making the whole thing collapse beside him. 

He sat there in the debris of his former safe spot sobbing out his frustration. Now it’s time for him to change. To become a better person. 

“Wiiiiiillllll.” A deep ghost like voice echoed through the woods. Will felt goosebumps pricking his skin as he looked up, he wasn’t alone. 

“Hello?” Will called back as he tried to wipe his tears away. He slowly stood up and looked around. He didn’t see anywhere, “Who’s there?”

“I see you queer boy.” The voice called out. 

“W-what?” Will said as he turned his back to Castle Byers and looked out into the woods looking for whoever was calling him. 

He suddenly heard a low growling sound behind him. The air surrounding him dropped about 40°. He was trying to get his breathing under control as he turned behind him to see what was looming over him. He saw what looked like a shadow dart behind the trees. He stayed in place as he tried following it with his eyes. 

“You're all alone, fairy.” The voice teased, “Nobody wants to be with the faggot.”

“STOP IT!” Will shouted, “LEAVE ME ALONE.”

“Will, it’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” Mike’s voice echoed behind him. 

Will whipped around, “m-Mike?” He asked as he saw a figure walking toward him from behind the trees. 

“No wonder your dad left you, he didn’t want a faggot for a son.” Mike’s voice became distorted as he got closer. 

The figure stepped into the light escaping through the leaves of the trees to find out that it wasn’t Mike at all. It was a shadow. It got closer and closer and began to take the form of the mind flayer. 

“No…no…” Will trailed off as he slowly started to move backwards, but the shadow kept advancing. 

Will stumbled back on the debris of Castle Byers falling to the ground and cutting his leg on the broken tree branches. The Mind Flayer rushed forward. 

“NO! NOT AGAIN!” Will shouted at the shadow as he got up and ran to his bike, “NEVER AGAIN!” 

Will knew the monster was still trailing behind him as he biked to his house. He threw his bike on the ground as he ran inside. He was out breath as he slammed his back against it. 

“MOM?! JONATHAN?!” He shouted out. No reply, “ANYONE!” Still no reply. 

He got a sense of déjà vu as he ran to the window to check for the Mind Flayer. He didn’t see it, but he still felt it’s presence, like it was watching him. He sure as hell wasn’t staying here alone. 

He had to be quick. He needed to think, which Party members live the closest?

Max. 

With his designation in mind, Will ran out of the house and grabbed his bike and pedaled as fast as he could to Max’s house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: Max Mayfield
> 
> I’m thinking about creating an Instagram to go with this fic. I created some memes while writing because I think I’m funny. I don’t know if anyone would like to see them or not though.


	7. Max Mayfield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max and El get to know each other. They then investigate Billy after spying on him in the Void. El has a weird dream. And finally Will drops in.

**Chapter 7** : Max Mayfield

**_Sunday, June 18_ **

When Max woke up this morning the last thing she expected was to end the day with Eleven at Hopper’s cabin for a sleepover. 

Ever since the two met last November it’s been awkward. At first El was wary of Max and thought that Max was trying to steal Mike away from her. El quickly learned that Max liked Lucas though and let up on the red head.

The two had never been alone until that morning when El showed up at Max’s door and told her all about Mike lying to her. Max saw this as the perfect opportunity to officially befriend El and maybe help her learn more about herself and the world. 

She took her shopping to get her mind off things. Max stole her mother’s emergency credit card. Susan Hargrove never used the card and won’t notice or say anything to Neil if Max were to use it. 

She bought El a couple of new outfits, took her for a photoshoot, and got her ice cream. It was the first time Max actually truly felt like a girly girl. She’s never liked shopping but today she enjoyed it. 

She enjoyed it even more when she saw the look on Mike’s face when El dumped him. Her and El had laughed and made jokes about it all the way to the bus stop where they got off and walked to El’s cabin. They spent the rest of the day there. 

El and Max retired to El's room when it got to night. Max put her mixtape in El’s radio and Madonna’s ‘Angel’ started playing. Max let out an excited squeal. Madonna was her favorite. 

“Have you ever heard of Madonna?” Max asked as she grabbed a hair brush to use as a microphone. El shook her head as she picked up the magazine her and Max had bought that day and flipped through it, “I’m about to change your life.”

Max sprang up and began dancing around and started singing along, “You must be an angel!” Max sang, “I can see it in your eyes!” El flipped open the magazine to a picture of Ralph Machio. She stared in awe at the picture of the boy, “full of wonder and surprise!”

Max stopped jumping around to see what El was looking at and chuckled slightly, “Oh, you found Ralph Macchio!” Max teased as she sat down on the floor and leaned on the bed next to El. 

“Macchio?” El parroted.

“Yeah! He’s the Karate Kid!” Max exclaimed, “Hai-yah!” Max pretended to chop the air. El began to giggle, “He’s _so_ hot, right?” Max asked, “I bet he’s an amazing kisser too.” El looked at Max like she was crazy, “Hey, uh…” Max trailed off as she hopped on to the bed next to El, “Is _Mike_ a good kisser?” She asked out of curiosity.

“I don’t know.” El said almost immediately, “He’s my first boyfriend.”

“Ex-boyfriend.” Max gently reminded her. El looked away as if she was embarrassed and unsure of herself, “Hey, don’t worry about it. Okay? He’ll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness.” Max’s optimism made El smile, “I guarantee you, him and Lucas are, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now. They’re like, ‘Oh, I hope they take us back!’” Max faked sobbed causing the two girls to laugh, “God, what I wouldn’t give to see their stupid faces.” El froze for a second looking into space deep in thought before looking back at Max, “What is it?” Max asked. 

El tried suppressing a smile, “I have a way to see them.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked, genuinely confused. 

“I can see them in the void.” El said. 

“But I thought the void was only for finding people?” Max asked. 

El shook her head, “I used it to check in with Mike, and sometimes the others, all last year.”

“Oh…” Max trailed off clearly surprised by this ability El had that she knew vaguely of. She didn’t understand quite how it worked.

El moved to the ground and placed it on a static station while Max found her a blindfold. El placed the black blindfold over her eyes.

Max excitedly sat across from El on the foot of El’s bed, “Is this really going to work?” Max asked. El nodded, “Holy shit! This is insane!” Max exclaimed. 

“Max.” El said. 

“Yeah, quiet. Sorry.” Max said quietly as she watched El seemingly sit there doing nothing. 

“I see them.” El said. 

Max pushed herself off the bed and got on the ground next to El, “What are they doing?”

“Eating.” Max looked off seemingly confused. It seemed like a rather odd thing for the boys to be doing after a break up. But Max just let El do her thing, “They say we are…’spee-cises’” El said again. 

“What?” Max asked. 

“‘Emotion, not logic.’”

“What?!” Max exclaimed. El stayed in the void a while longer before ripping off the blindfold and turning to Max with a surprised look on her face, “Wh-what happened?” Max asked as El started laughing hysterically as she threw herself on the ground, “What? What happened?” Max asked again laughing with El. 

“They’re so weird.” El said in between giggles,”I think Will could sense me in there.”

They stopped laughing as they heard a car engine stopping outside and the door slam shut. Hopper was home. 

They both quickly turned the radio back onto a radio station and grabbed the magazines and turned them open. 

“HEY!” They heard Hopper yell, “WHEN I SAY THREE INCHES, THREE-“ Hopper busted through the door still in his uniform from work, having just got off of work, and stopped right in his tracks when he saw the two girls. He had huge bags under his eyes from having to work late nights since kids started showing up missing and dead. He has zero leads, and Max can tell it’s starting to get to him. 

“Do you knock? Jeez!” Max asked before she could stop herself. She did want to be nice to Hopper, she knew he was super stressed and she didn’t want to add to it. 

“Yeeaahh! Jeez!” El echoed. 

“O-o-oh, hey.” Hopper sputtered out in surprise at seeing Max with El and not Mike, “I thought that, uh-“

“Mike’s _not_ here.” Max said. 

“Max wanted to have…a sleepover. Is that...okay?” El asked. 

“Yeah. Yeah...yeah. Your parents know about it?”

“Yup.”

“Um….yeah. It’s cool. Yeah.” Hopper stammered as he stood awkwardly in the doorway, “That’s-that’s really cool.”

There was a moment of awkward silence. The girls and Hopper all stared at each other, “did you _need_ something?” Max finally asked. 

“No...no. Uh, I’ll leave. I’ll just let you...I’ll leave you…” Hopper stammered as he closed the door leaving the girls to themselves. 

____

“Holy shit, I can’t believe we’re actually doing this.” Max exclaimed as she wrote the last of the names on pieces of paper surrounding a bottle. 

They wrote 7 names, including, in no particular order: Mr. Wheeler, Steve, Nancy, Dustin, Billy, Richie, and Mr. Clarke.

“Ready?” Max asked. 

“Ready.” El confirmed. 

Max spun the empty coke bottle. It spun around before landing onto….“Mr. Wheeler.” They both read. 

“Ugh.” Max made a sound of disgust, “Boring.”

“Yeah, boring.” El echoed causing the two to giggle. 

“Spin again.” Max said. 

El reached for the bottle before pausing, “Against the rules?”

“We make our own rules.” Max said easily.

El spun the bottle and they watched it land on...“Billy.” They both read. 

“Okay, look, I should just warn you.” Max said as she got off the bed to grab the radio and blindfold, “If he’s with a girl or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you’re scared for life.” Max explained before handing El the blindfold. 

“Max-“

“No, I’m just saying. I’m serious. He’s _really_ gross.” Max said as she fiddled with the radio.

“ _Max_.” El exclaimed.

“Okay, shutting up now.” They both snickered slightly as Max switched the radio to static. El put the blindfold on. Max watched El sit there and waited for El to say something.

“I found him.” El said after a minute. 

“What’s he doing?”

“I don’t know.” El whispered, “He’s...on the floor...talking to someone.” 

El was silent. The silence was driving Max crazy. Something had to be wrong. El suddenly gasped as she pulled the blindfold off. She was breathing heavily. 

“What? What is it?” Max said quickly, “What happened?”

“I...I don’t know...he..saw me?” El’s eyes watered up.

“Hey, hey.” Max said comfortingly as she pulled El close to her giving her a hug, “It’s okay. How about we go to bed. It’s late, you’ll feel better in the morning, we can figure it out then, okay?” Max suggested. 

El nodded as she wiped her eyes with the palm of hands. Max reached over to El’s bedside table and grabbed a tissue and handed it to El which she used to wipe her bloody nose. 

“You said Will saw you today right? Maybe it was like that?” Max suggested. 

“Maybe.” El agreed quietly. 

**_Monday, June 19_ **

It was close to noon by the time El convinced Max to look into Billy and what he was doing. Thunder was beginning to rumble as the girls walked down the street to Max’s house. 

“It’s gonna start pouring soon.” Max said, “We should be at the mall or, like, watching a movie or something.”

“You don’t believe me?” El asked. 

“I believe you some super weird stuff, totally. But you said Mike has sensed you before, and you said it yourself that so did Will just last night. I think that it was probably just like that. Maybe Billy just...sensed you somehow.” Max suggested. 

“But the screams.” El reminded Max. 

“Yeah, I know, but here’s the thing.” Max explained, “When Billy is _alone_ with a girl they make, like, really crazy noises.” 

“They scream?” El asked. 

“Yeah, but, like...happy screams.”

“Happy screams? What is...happy screams?”

“It’s like….I’m just gonna lend you my mom’s _cosmo_ .” Max said, wanting to drop the subject. It was obvious El didn’t know what she was talking about and she didn’t want to be the one to tell her about _that_. 

They finally arrived at Max’s house. They stopped in the road in front of the house, “his car’s not here.” Max stated before asking, “Are you sure about this? You _really_ want to do this?” El nodded. 

Max showed El inside. Like Billy, Max’s mother and stepfather were not home, so they could get away with going into Billy’s room. 

Upon opening the door Max murmured, “Why do I get the feeling we’re gonna find all kinds of wrong in here?” The stereo was left on and was blaring heavy metal music. 

Max went to his dresser first and opened the drawer only to find magazines with half naked women on their covers, “Ugh! Gag me with a spoon!” Max exclaimed as she slammed it back shut and rolled her eyes. 

El and Max moved into the bathroom. They turned on the light. El advanced into the room only to find the tub full of what appears to be water from melted ice because of the empty ice bags floating in the water. 

“Max?” El quietly said to get Max’s attention. 

“Ice.” Max stated as she reached down and grabbed one of the empty bags, “It’s just ice. It’s probably for his muscles or something. He works out like a maniac.”

El can’t shake the strange feeling she has. She turns toward the sink and to the cabinets below them. She sees what appears to be bloody fingerprints on the cabinet door. She quickly goes over and opens them. 

Max watched El bend over and peer in before she picked up the trash can that was in the cabinet, “El, what is it?” She asked. 

El pulls out a lifeguard fanny pack and gently places it on the counter before she reaches back in and pulls out a bloodied whistle. Her breathing is so ragged as she looks at Max. 

“Look, El I don’t know what you think Billy did but he didn’t hurt anyone-“

“Max-“

“No El, I know that there’s a lot of weird things happening in Derry with all the kids going missing, but it’s _not_ Billy. You have to believe me.” Max felt tears prick her eyes as she pleaded with El. 

“I believe you.” El said, “But we have to _know_. Where is Billy?”

“At work, at the pool.” 

____

The rain had started as the girls were biking through Derry to the pool. Max on her bike and El on the back standing on the pegs. Max wore her yellow rain coat and lended El it’s twin jacket, a red rain coat.

Max left her bike outside the pool and her and El walked inside inside the small building past all the people fleeing from the rain. They stopped at the small desk area where two employees sat reading magazines. 

“Excuse me?” Max asked. 

“No one in the water until 30 minutes after the last strike.” The man said monotonously, “And don’t try and argue with me. If you wanna get electrocuted, go climb a tree.”

“Yeah, we don’t care. We’re not here to swim….or get electrocuted.” Max stated as El reached into her rain jackets deep pocket and pulled out the Fanny pack. 

“We found this.” El said as she held up the fanny pack. The two employees regarded the Fanny pack with bored expressions.

“Does that belong to anybody here?” Max asked. 

“Oh, yeah. That’s Heather’s.” The man said, “I’ll get it back to her.”

“ _We_ could give it back to her.” El suggested. 

“You _could,_ ‘cept she’s not _here_. Bailed on me today.” El and Max both share a concerned look with each other, “What is this? You girls want a reward or somethin’?”

“No, we’re just...Good Samaritans.” Max said. The girl behind the desk smiled sweetly at Max as she said that. Max sent the girl a confused look before slowly turning away from the desk to find El walking toward a board on the wall opposite of them. 

Max quickly followed El over. There on the wall was pictures of all the pool employees, Heather included. 

“Heather. Do you think you can find her?” Max asked. 

El slowly turned back to the desk to find the two pool employees distracted and quickly pulled the picture of the board and pulled Max toward the locker rooms. 

They were empty so it was the perfect place for El to use her powers to find Heather. Max quickly turned on all the showers in the shower room of the locker room. El had to have complete silence and the sound of the showers all running blocked out all other sounds and helped El concentrate. 

Meanwhile El found goggles and duct tape. She taped over the goggles with the duct tape. She was reminded of only a year and half earlier when Joyce taped up goggles in the science classroom of Hawkins middle school for El right before she found Will in the Upside Down. 

With the white noise of the showers and the picture of Heather in front El, she was ready. She placed the goggles over her eyes and concentrated hard on finding Heather. 

Max sat on a bench next to El and watched yet again. After a few moments of silence Max asked, “What do you see?”

“A...door.” El whispered, “a red door.”

Max watched in silence. There wasn’t much she could do to help El while she was in the void. El was in the void for a minute before she screamed and ripped the goggles of her head. She was breathing heavily, on the verge of a panic attack as she tried to process what she had seen. 

“What happened? El?” Max asked as she placed a hand on El’s back as a means of comfort. El was still breathing hard. She put her head in her hands as she tried to calm herself down. 

Max quickly dropped to the ground next to El and pulled her close to her to comfort her. El quickly wrapped her arms around Max and held onto her like her life depended on it. 

____

Within the next hour the girls hopped back onto Max’s bike and rode back to her house. They got some food and rested before El decided they needed to look further into it. 

“El, it’s pouring right now. It’s not the smartest thing to be put when it’s raining like this.” Max stated. 

“We'll be fine, trust me.” El said, “Powers, remember.”

“Right.” Max agreed, “Fine. But we come right back here afterwards, okay?”

“Promise.” El said. 

With that the girls gathered back up their raincoats and mounted Max’s bike again. El held on tight to Max’s shoulders as they rode through the flooding streets of Derry. El whispered directions into Max’s ears as they went and eventually found themselves in front of a house with a red door like what El saw in the void. 

“Is this it?” Max asked as she stared at the house. She then turned her attention to the other houses, Steve Harrington lived right across the street. The Byers lived about a quarter mile down the road. The house itself wasn’t that far from Max’s house, only a half a mile at most. 

El nodded. That was all Max needed to hear. They got off the bike and ran to the door. El used her powers to unlock the door for them. The door slowly creaked open revealing a nice cozy looking home. 

The girls walked in slowly. They could hear music playing from within the house, most likely from the dining room. Max stepped up and saw a picture on the wall. It was of Heather and her parents. They appeared to be happy in the photo. 

“This is her house.” Max said. 

“What?” El asked. 

“Heather’s house.” Max clarified. 

The two could hear laughing coming from the same direction the music was playing. It scared them at first, the two had forgotten themselves for a moment. The two slowly walked toward the dining room.

“Isn’t that cute, huh?” They heard a man say. _Billy,_ Max thought as she heard multiple people laughing, mainly a woman

“He’s so funny.” The woman said through a laugh. 

Max and El walked down the hall that lead to the dining room. Billy sat at the table with a man and a woman, both in their kid 40s. 

“Max!” Billy exclaimed when he saw his step sister. 

“We didn’t mean to...barge in. We tried to knock, but maybe you didn’t hear us over the storm.” Max said quickly. 

“I’m sorry,” the man, Tom Holloway of Derry’s post, asked Billy, “who is this dripping all over my living room right now?”

Billy chuckled, “I’m sorry. Janet, Tom, this…” Billy pointed towards Max, “is my sister, Maxine.”

“Oh!” The woman, Janet, exclaimed as Billy got up and made his way over to the two girls.

“What on earth are you doing here?” Billy asked, “Is something wrong?”

“We just wanted to make sure everything was okay.” Max said. 

“Okay?” Billy repeated, “Why wouldn’t be okay?”

“Where is she?” El asked abruptly.

Billy turned to el and the pair shared an intense stare at each other, “I’m sorry. Where is _who?_ ”

“Well,” the very feminine and upbeat sound of Heather Holloway’s voice filled the dining room as she exited the kitchen holding a tray of cookies, “they’re a little burnt, I’m sorry-“ Heather paused when she saw Max and El standing in the room. 

“Heather!” Billy exclaimed, “This is my sister, Maxine...and I’m sorry, I didn’t not quite catch your name.” Billy said as he turned to El. 

El turned back to Billy and held a death stare with him as she said, “El.”

“El.” Billy repeated, “Now, what is it that you were saying, El? You were _looking_ for somebody?”

El looked back at Heather bewildered, “I...I saw...I saw you-“ El stammered as she and Heather stared at each other. Heather stood like a deer caught in headlights. 

“Your manager!” Max said quickly, “At the pool. He said you guys didn’t come in to work today and we got worried with what’s all been going on in Derry.”

“Heather wasn’t feeling so hot today, so we thought we’d take the day off to nurse her back to health.” Billy explained, “But you’re feeling just fine right now, aren’t you Heather?”

“I’m feeling _so_ much better.” Heather agreed in a sweet voice, “Do you girls want a cookie? They’re fresh out of the oven.” Heather held up the tray. 

“No thank you. We’ll get out of your hair now. Sorry again for barging in.” Max said as she turned to walk out, “come on El.” Max said as she gently pulled El behind her and out the door. 

Billy followed them to the door, “Be careful. We wouldn’t want any accidents happening.” Billy said before the two walked out the door. 

“Right…see you later Billy.” Max said as she and El made their way to Max’s bike. 

____

Max rummaged around her room looking for her comics, waiting for El to return from the bathroom. She settled for two of her favorites, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.

Outside the storm still hadn’t let up. It was still pouring down rain and thundering. Max sat down on her bed with the two comics. She was so excited, El probably has never even read a comic before. Max was excited to be the one who introduces El to the wonderful world of comics, and not Mike. 

“Which one?” Max asked as soon as El entered the room. She could barely contain herself as she held up the comics. She _really_ hopes El picks Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman was Max’s favorite superhero. She was also the first character Max had a crush on when she was little.

“I don’t know.” El said quietly as she got under the covers of Max’s bed. 

“Hey.” Max said softly, she could tell El was still shaken up from whatever she saw in the void, “There's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?”

El sighed, “It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?” Max asked.

“Heather. The blood. The ice.” El listed. 

“Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she’s better now.” Max explained, “That _has_ to be it. I don’t know where that blood came from, but...we _saw_ her. We _both_ saw her. She’s totally fine.”

“What about Billy?” El asked. 

Max’s face scrunched up in confusion, “What about him?”

“He seemed... _wrong._ ” El said. 

Max chuckled lightly, “Wrong is kind like his default. But it’s nice to know he’s not a murderer, because that would’ve totally sucked.” She joked. 

El smiled slightly at Max. Being around Max made El remember not to take everything so seriously and that it was okay to have some fun. El moved her gaze to the comics that Max had laid on the bed, “Who… is that?” El asked as she sat up and pointed to the Wonder Woman comic. 

Max smiled so brightly because El chose Wonder Woman, “See, this is why you can’t just hang out with Mike all the time.” Max picked up the comic and opened it. El rested her head in Max’s shoulder, “This is Wonder Woman, aka princess Diana. She’s from Paradise Island, which is, like, this hidden island where there are only women Amazon warriors.” 

____

El knew it was a dream, but it wasn’t like her normal dreams, that was for sure. Her normal ‘dreams’ were always nightmares of the Lab, the Upside Down, and not being able save Will. 

_This_ was different. It was almost like the void but _not_. 

First off, El stood in a small room and not the normal darkness of the void. There was a door to her left and a bookshelf to the right. She stood behind a desk. The room seemed to be an office of some kind, but she didn’t know what for. Behind El was a circular window that had what appeared to be a star with 6 points inside of it, she didn’t know what the star stood for so she turned back around. There was a crooked painting of a crooked woman on the wall opposite of the window. She held a flute in her hand. The painting sent shivers down El’s spine. There was something very off about it. 

El jumped as she heard the door creak open. A boy, her age, with almost golden colored hair that was curlier than Dustin’s, something El hadn’t known was possible, walked into the room. He held his hand over his face, blocking the view of the painting, as he passed through the room. 

“Hello?” El called out, “Who are you?”

The boy didn’t reply, he hadn’t heard her. He lifted his gaze to the painting to quickly straighten it before he kept walking toward the bookshelf to put the book in his arm away. 

El walked out from behind the desk to get a closer look at the boy, mainly his arms. She was very vigilant about people’s arms because there were others like her and she found Kali so that means she can find more. 

To her surprise, under his watch, the boy had a number tattooed on his right arm just like El. The number, 012. A brother. 

“Twelve.” El said. She was right next to him now. She reached out to touch the boy but her hand went right through him, because this wasn’t really happening, it was a dream.

El, and the boy both jumped when they heard something clatter onto the floor. The painting had fallen off the wall. El walked over to the painting with the boy. She watched as the lights began to flicker as he got closer and closer to the painting.

“Please...no...don’t take him.” El whispered as she turned her attention to the lights as they flickered. The lights flickering only meant one thing, the Upside Down, “I have to find him! Don’t take him!”

El turned back to the boy. He had placed the painting back on the wall, but the lady holding the flute was gone!

The boy backed away, walking through El as he did so. His breath was so ragged and the panic was evident in his eyes. A door, to what appeared to be a closet creaked open behind the boy. Both El and the boy whipped around to see the door opening by itself. 

El turned back around. She could see a shadowy figure behind the boy. 

“NO!” She shouted. She tried to use her powers, but couldn’t because it was a dream. She couldn’t help her brother. 

The figure dropped something. Before stepping forward into the small bit of light coming in through the window. 

It was the lady from the painting. She smiled a wicked smile with rows upon rows of teeth showing. 

“TWE-“

____

“-ELVE!” 

Max woke up with a start. She felt disoriented as she tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes. 

“El?” Max asked as she turned toward the girl beside her, “What happened?”

“I...I had a dream.” El said as she looked around. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Max asked with a yawn. 

“Yes, but we can wait until later though, I don’t want to keep you up. I’m sorry I woke you.” El said. 

“Are you sure?” Max asked. 

“Yeah. Go back to sleep.”

Max didn’t need anymore convincing. 

**_Tuesday, June 20_ **

El took a while to fall back to sleep after having her dream but managed to for a short while. 

She woke up again around 8:30 and waited for Max to wake up. She kept replaying the dream over and and over in her mind trying to piece together what it could mean. 

Max woke up around 10. 

“Morning, El.” Max said with a yawn as she sat up and stretched, “Have you been up long?”

“Since eight two seven.” El said. 

“Eight two seven?” Max asked, “You mean 8:27?” El nodded, “Sorry I tend to sleep a long time. Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Wanted you to sleep.” El said. 

“Well, thank you. I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”

“It’s okay.”

“Do you still want to talk about your dream?” Max asked, “Or have you forgotten it? I tend to forget my dreams.”

“I remember. I don’t think it was a dream.” El said. 

“If it wasn’t a dream...what was it?” Max asked. 

“A vision.”

“Okay? What happened in this...vision?”

“I saw a boy. He was like me.”

“Like you?”

“Twelve.” El pointed towards her tattoo. 

“Oh! He was _like_ you. Okay, did anything else happen?”

“He was in this office. And there was this...awful painting, and the painting...it...attacked him.”

“Attacked him?” 

“Yes. I think it was the Upside Down.”

“You _think_ or you _know_?”

“Think.”

“Have you ever seen this boy before that?”

“I don’t _think_ so.”

“Okay, maybe it was _just_ a dream. Do you think it could have been _just_ a dream?” Max asked. 

“Yeah….just a dream.” El agreed. 

Max was silent for a few moments, “I’m sorry you had that dream. It must have really freaked you out.”

“I’ve had worst dreams than that. I’ll be fine.”

“How about we just spend the day here? We don’t have to worry about random dream boys or Billy, we can just have a movie day. How does that sound?” Max suggested. 

“I’d like that.” El agreed with a small smile. 

Max smiled at El as she pulled her up off the bed. El went to the bathroom to change into fresh clothes and brush her hair while Max did the same in her own room. When El returned she noticed a green thing in Max’s hair that she didn’t recognize. 

“What’s that?” El asked as she pointed to the green scrunchy in Max hair which held her red hair up in a ponytail. 

“A scrunchy, do you want one?” Max asked with a giggle. 

El nodded enthusiastically at the idea. Max rummaged through a basket she had on her dresser and pulled out a yellow scrunchy. She motioned for El to sit down on her bed before crawling up behind her and took her hairbrush. She quickly did El’s hair into a half up half down hair do.

“Okay! Done!” Max exclaimed. 

El got up and looked at herself in the mirror. She smiled brightly at her new style. She loved the splashes of color throughout her new shirt and she never would have thought of wearing suspenders before Max showed them to her while they were at the store. 

Max grabbed El’s hand and led her into the living room. El sat down on the couch as Max rummaged through the cabinet where the movies were. She pulled out a few movie dvds. 

“Where are your parents?” El asked suddenly. 

“Work, they were probably here when we got back last night.”

“Oh.”

“Have you ever heard of Ferris Buller?” Max asked. She didn’t like talking about her mom and stepfather, or rather she didn’t like talking about her stepfather. El shook her head, “Wow, Really? I would have thought Mike would have shown you.” El shook her head again, “What about Breakfast Club? Or E.T.?”

“What is E.T.?” El asked. 

Max paused to ponder the question for a second, “It’s a movie about an alien, who gets stuck here on earth. A little boy finds him and has to help him get home.”

“And the others?” El asked. 

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Breakfast Club are two of my favorite movies. I think you’ll like them.”

“Let’s watch them.” El agreed with a smile. 

Max beamed at El before putting in the first movie, “You’re gonna really love this!”

____

Nearly 7 hours later, the girls finished the movies. They had a small lunch break after the first movie and only paused after that for when they had to use the bathroom. It was a nice relaxing lazy day. 

El ended up loving all three of the movies. It was nearly 5:40 now and the girls had retired back to Max’s room where they got out more of Max’s Wonder Woman comics to read. 

Max held up the comic for both her and El to see. She read the words aloud because she knew El still had trouble with reading. At one point El asked if she could try reading and Max helped her along. 

They were so far into the world of comics that they didn’t see a figure creeping up at the window. They both jumped out of their skins when they heard 3 knocks on Max’s window. 

“Holy shit!” Max cursed as she placed a hand on her chest. El placed the comic down on Max’s bed and watched the other girl slowly make her way over to the window where the knock had come from, “I swear to god if it’s Lucas and Mi-“ Max started to say but stoped when she reached the window. She gasped before opening the window, “Oh my god! Will! Are you okay?”

Will Byers came tumbling through the window onto Max’s floor. His eyes were red and puffy and still wet with tears. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to steady his breath, and more importantly his leg was bleeding. 

“I’m sorry...to just...show up here….but I didn’t know….where….else to go.” Will explained through pants as he picked himself off the floor. 

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Max said as she reached out to put a comforting hand on Will’s shoulder, “Are you okay? What happened? Why aren’t you with Mike and Lucas?”

“Long or short version?“ Will asked. 

“Long?” El suggested as she got up off the bed to stand next to Will, she put her hand on his shoulder as a form of comfort. Will nodded before taking a second to catch his breath. Max led Will over to bed and made him sit down. 

“Before you tell us, I’m going to grab stuff to patch up your leg.” Max said. 

“M-my leg?” Will asked. He looked down and gasped, he hadn’t even realized he had hurt his leg. 

Max nodded, “How did that even happen?” 

“I fell.” 

“Okay, I’ll be right back with stuff to fix you up.”

Max ran out of the room to the bathroom where she knew they kept gauze. She frequently uses them because she skateboards and tends to fall off a lot. She the. Got stuff to clean it as well. 

When she returned back to her room El was sitting next to Will on the bed with her arm wrapped around his and her head on his shoulder in a means to comfort him. 

Max sat on the floor in front of Will’s leg. She gently grabbed his foot and extended his leg out so she could see it better as she got started. 

“So, Will. Would you tell us what happened?” Max asked as she began to clean Will’s wound. 

“I guess I should start by saying sorry about Mike and Lucas the other day-“

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize for them, okay?” Max said. 

“Right...well after that I was _trying_ to get them to play a simple game of D&D like how we used to before.”

“D&D?” El questioned as she picked her head up off of Will’s shoulder and removed her arm from his so she could look at him. She still held his hand. 

“Dungeons and Dragons, it’s a fantasy game.” Max explained to El, “Then what happened Will?”

“They weren’t really playing and were even making fun of me for wanting to play, but then again I guess I took it too far–I got out my old wizard costume and everything.”

“There is nothing wrong with that. I’m guessing you were just trying to go back...to before?” Max asked. 

Will nodded, “Then the phone rang and they thought it was you guys, I tried to tell them to not answer but they didn’t listen. Which seems to be a running theme with them lately. It turned out to be telemarketers. I got angry and left and Mike and I had a fight. He said something not so nice, then I left.”

“That seems really out of character for Mike.” Max pointed out as she started to wrap gauze around Will’s leg. 

“Yeah… well, on my way home I passed Bill Denbrough’s house and he called me in, I guess he saw me out in the rain and it reminded him of what happened to his brother... Anyways, him and his friends, Richie, Eddie, Stan, and for some reason Ben Hanscom, we’re all there. I ended up spending the night there. Then today we went to Bellwood Quarry with Bev Marsh and went swimming.”

“Okay, so you, Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, Stan Uris, Ben Hanscom, Bev Marsh, and Mike’s twin brother went to the quarry?” Max asked for clarification. She could understand Will hanging out with Bill, Richie, Eddie, and Stan, but not Ben and Bev. That part just seemed so random to her. Bill, Richie, Eddie, and Stan weren’t friends with Ben and Bev, but she guesses things change.

“Yeah, it was kinda odd at first but they’re all really cool.” Will said, “When we were done, instead of heading back home, I went to Castle Byers, out of frustration, but then...this thing...I don’t even know what it was, it kinda looked like the Mindflayer attacked me. I ran home but it followed me and I had a flashback to _that_ night because I was alone. I then came here.”

“It was the Mindflayer?” Max asked.

“That’s the thing, I don’t think it was. It was something different.” Will tried to explain. 

“But the gate is closed.” El stated. 

“I don’t think this thing was from the Upside Down.”

“I...I...“ Max started to say but stopped herself. She placed a piece of tape over the gauze to keep them in place before getting up and joining Will and El on her bed. 

“What is it Max?” Will asked. 

“I saw something odd too, a while back.”

“ _What?_ ” Will exclaimed. 

“I thought I was seeing things...or that I made it up.” Max said. 

“What was it?” El asked. 

“Well…”

____

_It was Friday, and Max had to bike home on Fridays because Billy always had a date and refused to drive Max anywhere in favor of his date._

_The air had a slight chill to it because it was late March. She wanted to get home as quickly as possible before she caught a cold._

_She still wasn’t used to the chill the air had on the east coast. She was a west coast girl and grew up in the sun._

_She made a left off Main Street now going down Chestnut Drive which led toward her house._

_The street was completely deserted. Nobody was outside. No one gardening, no kids playing, no one talking an afternoon walk, except for a person who is too far out of Max’s eyesight._

_They seemed to be staggering around like a drunken man, similar to how Neil was on Saturday nights. Or similar to how zombies moved in the Movie “Day of the Dead”, which Mike had rented for the party to watch only a week earlier._

_Max decided to keep her distance from the person. They didn’t seem to be in the right state of mind and she didn’t wish to get hurt by them. She moved her bike to the other side of the street to avoid going right past them._

_She gasped when she saw the person closer as she passed. It was a woman, around her height, with pale skin, so pale it was almost gray looking. It was wrinkly and almost scarred over. The woman looked like she once had bright vibrant red hair, like Max’s, but was dull and almost matted in some places. She had harsh red scars on her face, only color really on her skin other than the grayness._

_Her slow movements changed drastically as Max passed. She turned around almost at lighting speed toward Max. She made a low grunting sound as she slowly walked across the street towards Max._

_“Are...are you okay?” Max hesitated asking as she stopped her bike to talk to the woman, “Are you hurt? Do you need help?”_

_The woman only grunted in response. Her pace picked up as she got closer to Max. She stopped in front of Max, only 6 feet away from her._

_The woman smelt like death, a musty rotten smell, that made Max gag. She put a hand over her mouth to prevent throwing up._

_“Maaaaaxxxxxx” the woman croaked out as she wobbled forward._

_“Who are you?” Max asked as she staggered back, “How do you know who I am?”_

_“Maaaaaxxxx.”_

_Max stumbled back tripping on her bike and tumbling into the ditch on the side of the road. She moved quickly to get up but the woman had caught up and captured Max’s foot in her cold and spindly hands._

_“Let me go!” Max screeched put as she tried to struggle out of the woman’s grasp to no avail. She frantically kicked her legs out in hopes of kicking the woman._

_She heard the low rumble of a car engine starting up meaning there was someone near by._

_“HELP!” Max cried out._

_She saw the roof of the car approaching in the distance. Max did the only thing she could think to do. She used all the force she could muster and kicked her foot out hitting the zombie like woman in the stomach. She scrambled up out of the ditch right as the car passed. At the last split second she felt the ghost of a hand on her ankle._

_The car had pulled to a stop on the side of the road. Out came a slightly chubby, and short woman. She had light brown hair that went to about her shoulders. Little did Max know that the woman was actually Arlene Hanscom, Ben Hanscom’s mother._

_“On my goodness! Are you okay sweetie?” Arlene gasped as she ran to the ditch and helped Max the rest of the way out._

_Max sat on her knees on the ground trying to catch her breath and stop the tears she didn’t even realize had started to fall, “I…” Max turned back to the ditch. The woman was gone! Back on the road lay Max’s bike, “I feel off my bike…” Max trailed off as she looked up at Arlene._

_“Oh you poor thing, are you hurt?” Arlene asked as she held her hand out for Max to take and stand up._

_“I don’t think so. I think I just...freaked myself out. Thank you for helping me.”_

_“Of course, now you be careful. You don’t have a long way to go back home, do you?” Arlene asked._

_“No. It’s right at the end of the street. I’ll be fine.” Max said as she offered Arlene a small smile, “thank you again.”_

_Max watched Arlene drive away, probably off to work before going to get her bike. She quickly booked it the rest of the way down the road to her house._

_There was no way that was real._

____

“You saw a zombie?” Will asked. 

“I thought I did. I had thought I made it up, but maybe there’s something else going on in Derry…Maybe whatever that was is what is killing all the kids here?”

“I can’t keep doing this.” Will said as he put his head in his hands, “I just want to have a fucking normal life.”

Max and El didn’t say anything. Instead they leaned onto Will, resting their heads on their shoulders. 

“We could be wrong, and we’re both just seeing shit.” Max suggested. 

“It’s bad that I hope we’re crazy, rather then that thing being real.”

“Maybe we could find out.” El said. 

“What?” Max and Will said in unison.

“Your house. You said you saw it at your house.” El clarified. 

“You want to see if it’s still there?” Will asked. El nodded, “I don’t know, it could be dangerous.”

“Will, I have superpowers, what’s the worst that could happen?” El said as she winked at Max because those were her exact words only days earlier. 

“Shit.” Will cursed to himself, “Okay.”

____

As it turns out, whatever it was, if there was ever something there, was gone. Will’s house was completely abandoned and there was no sign of anything ever being there. 

“Is it weird that I’m kinda disappointed that there’s nothing here?” Max asked as she plopped down on the couch. 

Will snorted to himself, “Very weird.” He said as he sat down on the couch with them as well. 

“Yeah! Weird.” El chimed in. 

“Now what?” Max asked. 

“Do you…” Will trailed off as he looked around his house. His eyes landed on games that had been left on the table from a game night him and his family had had a week ago, “Do you want to play a game?”

The girls agreed. When deciding what game to play Max and Will learned that El has never played Rummy 500 so they taught it to her. 

They are in the 3rd turns of the second game when Joyce arrives home from work. She walks into the kitchen to see the trio playing their game. 

“Oh my goodness! You cut your hair!” Was the first thing Joyce said. 

“Yeah, I thought it was time for a change. Do you like it?” Will asked as Joyce walked up to get a closer look at it. 

“Yeah, it suits you.” Joyce said as she ran a hand through her son's hair inspecting it, “Did you do it yourself?”

“Uh, no. I was with Richie and his friends earlier today and Beverly Marsh actually cut it.”

“Wait, _Beverly Marsh_ cut your hair?” Max asked, “You didn’t tell me that!”

Will shrugged in response. 

“Oh! Who’s Beverly Marsh?” Joyce asked in a teasing tone, “Your girlfriend?”

Will sighed, “No mom. She’s a girl who is my friend, like Max and El. There’s a space between girl and friend.”

“If you say so.” Joyce said as she ruffled Will’s hair as she went over to the kitchen to grab something small to eat before starting on dinner, “Where's Lucas and Mike?” Joyce asked when she finally noticed the absence of the two boys, she didn’t ask about Dustin because she knew he was at camp. 

“I don’t know.” Will shrugged, “Haven’t seen them today.”

“Haven’t seen them today?” Joyce repeated, “I thought you boys spent the night at Bill Denbrough’s house.”

“ _I_ did. Mike and Lucas didn’t. I haven’t seen them for about a day.”

“Is everything okay?”

“We just had a stupid fight. Just Party drama. We’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Okay, are you girls spending the night?” Joyce asked. 

“Are you okay with that?” Max asked. 

“Yeah, if your parents are.”

“Will?” Max asked. 

“I mean, if you want to. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Will said. 

“I want to. El?” Max agreed. 

“I’ll call Hop.” El happily chirped. 

**_Wednesday, June 21_ **

The trio spent the night getting to know each other and hadn’t fallen asleep until nearly 3:00. The were woken up 6 hours later by the phone ringing 

Will grunted as he pushed himself up from the sleeping bag he had fallen asleep in the night before. El and Max had taken the couch. 

He glanced at his watch, which he had forgotten to take off the night before, and it read nearly 9 o’clock. Jonathan and his mother were already at work.

He picked up the phone right as it had woken up the girls. 

“Hello?” Will croaked into the phone. 

“Rise and shine, zombie boy!” The voice of Richie Tozier-Wheeler boomed through the phone into Will’s ear. Richie sounded so much like Mike over the phone that Will would have believed it to be him if it weren’t for Richie calling him zombie boy. 

“Hey Richie, what’s up?” Will asked as he glanced back into the living room. Max and El had woken up and were chatting quietly to each other. 

“We were planning on going to the mall to see the new Ghostbusters movie, do you want to come?” Richie asked. 

“Yeah, sure. What time?” Will asked. 

“Well the movie starts at 10:45, but we wanted to go to Scoops Ahoy first, Stan’s sister works there you know. We can meet there at, say, 10?”

“That sounds good,” Will said as he glanced back into the living room at Max and El, “Is it okay if I bring a friend, or two?”

“It’s not Mike, is it?” Richie asked. 

Will chuckled slightly, “No, I haven’t seen Mike since Monday.”

“Well it’s fine with me! The more the merrier!” Richie said cheerfully. 

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you soon.”

“Yep! See you soon zombie boy.”

“See you soon Richie.” Will said before hanging up the phone. 

He walked into the living too. He found the girls with slightly messy bedhead and getting more and more alert by the minute. 

“Who was that?” Max asked out of curiosity. 

“Richie Tozier-Wheeler.” Will said. 

“Mike’s brother?” El asked. 

“Yeah, he invited me to hang out with him and his friends at the mall. You know, watch a movie, visit Stan’s sister at Scoops, which means we’ll be able to visit Steve, you want to come?”

“Yes! I haven’t met Richie yet!” El exclaimed excitedly.

____

The mall was crowded, like it has been since its opening. Teenagers from both Derry and Hawkins all came to spend the day at the mall. Many of the high school and college students, such as Steve Harrington and Robin Uris, Stan Uris’s sister, worked at the mall. It was just the place to be. 

It was El’s second time at the mall. It was still as new and exciting as it was last time for El. Max grabbed El’s hand and tangled their fingers together as they made their way through the mall. Max had her hand on Will’s shoulder to keep him close as well as they made their way through the crowded mall. 

Soon they made it to Scoops Ahoy. They went to the counter when they didn’t see the Losers right away. Steve was currently working at the ice cream bar and the cash register. There was a group of three girls, all seniors at Derry High School, ordering. 

They could see Robin Uris standing in the window watching Steve in annoyed amazement as he ultimately failed at flirting with the girls. They left with their ice cream after the awkward encounter. 

“Hey Steve!” El happily chirped as the trio stepped up to the counter to order. 

“You guys are back.” Steve smiled at the trio, “Where’s Wheeler and Sinclair?” Steve asked as he noted the lack of Mike and Lucas’s presence.

“I dumped his ass.” El said almost proudly. 

“Oh.” Steve said almost awkwardly not really knowing how to reply, “Okay…”

“Can me and El get the same thing we had the other day?” Max asked with a light chuckle. The confusion on Steve’s face was almost too much. 

“Vanilla with sprinkles and Strawberry?” Steve asked for confirmation. Max nodded as she reached for her money, “What about you Mini Byers?”

“Mint chocolate chip, please.” Will said as he brought out his money to give to Steve, but Max made a hand gesture for him to put it away as she handed Steve a 10 dollar bill to pay for all three. 

Steve got to work on the ice cream cones. Max and El watched him like a hawk as Will scanned the ice cream shop once more. He spotted the 6 Losers sitting at a booth that had been facing away from the entrance which had blocked their view of finding them. 

“Will.” He heard El softly call. He turned around to find Steve holding his ice cream cone out for Will to take. 

“Oh sorry, thank you.” Will said as he took the ice cream cone. 

“Are they here?” El asked as she looked around the ice cream shop. 

“Yeah, follow me.” Will said as he led the group to the table where the losers were chatting quite loudly. 

“ZOMBIE BOY!” Richie exclaimed as he jumped up. He put an arm around Will’s shoulder, “Who are these lovely ladies?” Richie asked in a teasing way.

El scanned over the 6, well 5 since Richie was standing, Losers sitting at the table. She could easily tell which one was Mike’s brother, Richie. They looked exactly alike except that Richie has glasses and heterochromia in his eyes, one eye blue and the other brown. 

“Max Mayfield, and this is-“

“El, El Hopper.” El spoke up. 

“Hopper?” Bev asked, “Are you chief’s kid?”

“Adoptive.” El confirmed as her eyes landed onto Stan. She’s seen him before...but where? 

“Well, let me introduce you to the Losers club!” Richie exclaimed, “That’s Big b-b-b-Bill, and then we got Ben Haystack, Eddie Spaghetti-“

“Don’t call me that!” Eddie exclaimed. 

“Stan the Man and Beaverly.”

“Beverly.” Bev corrected, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” Max said as she and El squeezed into the bench next to Bev, Max was right next to Bev and El was on the other side which was the outside part of the table and bench. Will sat across from them next to Richie. 

El found it hard to pull her eyes away from Stan. She knew him! He was the boy that was in her dream! Stan was like her. He was her brother. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: Richie Tozier


	8. Richie Tozier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie bonds with Max, El, and Will after unnecessarily provoking Henry Bowers. Mike finally catches up with Richie. Then Richie sees something that’s able to shut him up for the first time in his life.

**Chapter 8** : Richie Tozier

**_Wednesday, June 21_ **

Richie would admit, he really did love the first Ghostbusters, not as much as his brother Mike, but he still really loved it. 

Though he could hardly focus on the movie. He had Eddie beside him and that alone made him distracted. He just loved to pick on and bother Eddie, he was just so  _ cute _ when he got all angry. 

On his other side he had Will beside him. He was worried about him and Mike. The two of them had been best friends since kindergarten and he would hate for that to be ruined because of a stupid fight. There was about 30 minutes left of the movie when Richie casually leaned forward to look over the balcony that they were sitting on. He straight out gasped when he saw that the Bowers Gang, which included Henry Bowers, Victor Criss, Belch Huggins, Troy Walsh, and James Dante, we’re sitting right below them. Eddie noticed Richie peering over the balcony so he leaned forward as well to see what had captured Richie’s attention.

“Oh shit!” Eddie exclaimed in a surprised gasp that was almost a whisper when he saw Bowers’s gang beneath them. Slowly one by one everyone else leaned over to see what they were looking at. 

Richie was never one to act on logic, his ADHD always got in the way and he tended to act more on an impulse. So he shouted out the first thing he could think of, “EAT SHIT BOWERS!”, before tipping over his drink and dropping his popcorn down on the gang. It landed right onto Henry and you could see the soda seeping down his shirt and pants and the popcorn kernels tangling in his mullet. 

“YOU’RE DEAD TOZIER!” Henry shouted as he shot up out of seat. 

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” Eddie quickly chanted as he pulled Richie away from the side and pushed him down the aisle. 

They all jumped up and scattered. Somehow Richie ended up in a group with Stan, Will, Max, and El. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Stan asked as he looked over his shoulder to look for Bowers or any of his goons. They were now walking through the main part of the mall trying to blend in. Richie shrugged, “That’s what I thought. You weren’t.”

“Sorry Stan the man. But we’ll be fine.” Richie said. 

“You say that, but we both know that’s not true. That was totally unnecessary! Henry was already after Ben, now he’s after all of us!” Stan explained. 

“But you have to admit it was kinda funny.” Richie said. 

“Richie-“ Stan started to say. 

“It totally was. Did you see the look on Bowers face when the soda hit him!” Max exclaimed as she tried to stop from laughing, which wasn’t working at all. 

“See, Max gets it.” Richie said. 

“Don’t encourage him. You’ll only make him something stupider.”

“Oh my god, you all know Stacey right?” Max said through giggles. 

“Albright? Yeah, she’s a total bitch.” Richie said. 

“Last time me and El were at the mall, so like a few days ago, Stacey’s drink just blew up! It went all over her!” Max exclaimed. She knew not to mention that it was El who made the drink explode. 

“That’s amazing!” Richie snickered, “But it’s not as funny as the time Troy Walsh pissed himself in front of the whole school!”

“God I wish I was there to see  _ that _ .” Max said as she busted out laughing. 

“Same.” Will chimed in, “He doesn’t even go near Mike any more, thanks to El-“

“Mike?” Richie asked, “My brother Mike?” 

“Yes.” El said.

“Holy  _ SHIT _ ! You're the girlfriend!” Richie exclaimed as the realization came over him. 

“Not anymore. I dumped his ass.” El said with a light giggle. 

“I literally thought Mike made you up. How come I’ve never met you until now?”

“I’m homeschooled.” El said simply. 

“How did you meet Mike?”

“He was looking for Will and found me.”

“I feel like I just uncovered a family secret.” Richie joked as he lightly elbowed the closest person to him, Stan, “So El, who’s the hotter twin?”

“Hotter? I don’t know...Mike’s not...cold…” El trailed off. 

The group busted out laughing, “Well I didn’t expect that, El. Are you trying to take my place as the funny friend?”

“El, sweetie, he means which twin is more attractive.” Max explained softly, “Richie, El tends to take things more literally.”

“Oh shit. Which one of us is the pretty twin?” Richie quickly asked again. 

“Oh...you both look exactly alike, so both!” El happily exclaimed, “I didn’t know people could look that much alike.”

“Yeah, when we were younger we’d try to switch places but it never worked because I got the one blue eye and I’m basically blind without my glasses and Mike insists on wearing contacts.” Richie said, “We tried switching in like third grade because I had a science test and I suck at science, Long story short, Mike got caught about 10 minutes into the test and we both ended up with detention and grounded for the longest time.”

“The hotter twin is definitely Mike.” Stan randomly stated after Richie finished his story. 

“Hey! You're just saying that to spite me!” Richie exclaimed. 

“Maybe.” Stan laughed to himself.

“I’m gonna say Richie, only because Mike’s annoying as hell.” Max chimed in. 

Richie gasped as he placed a hand on his chest, “I’m flattered Mayfield.”

“TOZIER!” They heard a voice almost echo through the crowded mall. The group whipped around to find Bowers and his gang had caught up to them and was running toward them, “YOU’RE DEAD FAGGOT!” Henry screeched as he ran toward them. 

The group froze for a second in surprise. El took that moment to her advantage and used her powers to roll a cart of cds and records from the music store in the mall in the path of where Henry was running. He ran right into the rack falling over on top of the rack in the process. 

The small group took off towards the esulators. Max has a grip on El’s arm to keep her close meanwhile Richie has a hand on Will’s shoulders, almost pushing him forwards. 

Richie is cackling so hard he’s on the verge of tears because of how ridiculous Bowers looked as he ran into the rack. 

Richie glanced over as they made their way out of the mall only to find Mike and Lucas sitting, or rather sulking in Mike’s case, on a bench outside of Scoops Ahoy. Him and Mike make eye contact as he runs by with half of Mike’s friends. Richie keeps them moving, one, to avoid Bowers, and two, to avoid a fight between Mike and his friends. 

El, Max, Will, and Stan all passed seemingly not noticing Mike and Lucas’s presence. Which Richie almost counts as a win as the group board their bikes and head home. 

____

Mike got home not long after Richie did. Richie knew he was pissed off, normally Mike would be all up in Richie’s face but right now Mike seems to be sulking by himself in the basement. 

It is until after dinner that Mike approaches Richie. They’re putting their dishes in the sink while Karen is leaning against the counter sipping on her coffee. 

“Richie, what the actual fuck!” Mike finally said. 

“Micheal, language.” Karen warned. 

“I have a bone to pick with Richie.” Mike exclaimed. 

“I don’t care. You do  _ not _ use that kind of language in this house.” Karen said.

“Sorry mom.” Mike grumbled. 

“Good, now you can go settle whatever this thing is with your brother.” Karen said as she waved the two off. 

Mike rolled his eyes before dragging Richie up to their shared room away from Karen’s prying eyes. 

“Seriously, Richard, can’t seem to find Will for 2 days and then I find him with you, and El as well-“ Mike began to rant. 

“He was out alone in the rain, Bill called him in.” Richie stated, “maybe if you weren't such an asshole to him you wouldn’t be in this situation, Michael.”

“I’ve been trying to fix it, but it’s pretty damn hard when I don’t know where either Will or El are.” Mike threw himself on to his bed. 

“He’s been with me and my friends, we went to the quarry yesterday. Whatever you said really upset him, he just wanted some time away from you.” Richie explained, “We didn't want Will to be alone, so we asked if he wanted to hang out with us.”

“When are you hanging out next? I want to come.”

“Maybe, you should let Will come to you when he’s ready.” 

“ _ What _ if he never comes?  _ What _ if I just lost my best friend?” 

“You didn’t lose him. He just needed a break.” 

The silence in the room was driving both the twins crazy until Mike finally asked, “Why was El with you?” Which gave the twins a new reason for a headache.

“We invited Will to hang out today, he brought Max and El.” Richie simply stated, “She’s really funny, you know?”

“Yeah…” Mike trailed off. It was followed by more silence until Mike sighed in defeat and said, “Please...just watch them, make sure they’re safe for me.”

“I can do that, you have my word.”

**_Thursday, June 22_ **

Richie didn’t have much planned for today other than going to the arcade for the day, which was his plan for pretty much everyday when he wasn’t hanging out with his friends. 

As always, the street fighter game was open, Richie rushed to it and pulled out his loot of money he has been saving for a while now. He starts the first game. He’s been practicing, to be the best. He’s vaguely aware that Max plays arcade games, and is very good at it as well. Mike always makes a point to bitch about that fact almost every time he comes home from the arcade with his friends, he’s probably just angry that Max beat him, along with the rest of the party. Richie hopes to one day challenge Max and beat the champion.

He’s in the middle of his 4th game when he hears the voice of one Henry Bowers. He quickly turns around to see him, along with his gang, walking in the arcade presumably to the theatre in the back. 

Richie goes stiff as a board as Henry walks by. Richie goes seemingly unnoticed by Henry. As soon as Henry went into the theatre Richie ran out. He decided to go out the back door in case Henry and his gang turned around for some reason. 

The back door leads to an alley, it’s a small little section which leads only to the street. There’s walls on 3 sides of the alley. 

Richie takes a moment to stand there and contemplate his life’s decisions that had led him to the point of fleeing whenever Henry Bowers shows up. But in truth, even if Richie hadn’t spilt the drinks and popcorn on Henry yesterday, he’d still be after Richie. It was just how Bowers was.

Richie stiffened again. He got the same feeling that he had gotten only 5 minutes earlier when Bowers entered the arcade. There was then a low growling sound, like a dog, from behind the dumpster. 

He saw a figure stepping out from behind the dumpster and Richie’s first thought was that it was the werewolf kind of like the one from  _ I Was a Teenage Werewolf _ , a movie that freaked Richie out more than he’d like to admit to.

The figure then shifted from a huge scary looking beast to something Richie found much more sweet- “Eddie?” Richie called out when he saw the small boy step out from behind the dumpster, “What are  _ you _ doing behind a  _ dumpster _ ?” Richie asked. 

“Richie!” Eddie exclaimed as he ran to Richie and threw himself into Richie’s arms, “thank god! I saw Bowers and I panicked and ran here. Is he gone?” Eddie asked as he looked up to Richie with his huge chocolate brown doe like eyes. He looked so soft and scared right in that moment that Richie forgot himself. 

“B-bowers?” Richie stuttered out before cursing himself out in his head because now he sounded like Bill, “He...he went into the Hawk.” Richie said as he reached down and grabbed Eddie’s hand as a form of comfort to the small boy. 

_ Has he always been this small… _ Richie thought to himself. 

“So we’re alone?” Eddie asked. 

“Yeah,” Richie said, “Do you want to head home?”

“With you?” Eddie spat out in disgust as he pulled his hands from Richie’s. 

“Eds...I don’t know what you mean.” Richie trailed off. 

“Come one Rich, I know you really want.” Eddie giggled almost evily, “To bad no one’s here to find out what a fag you are-“

“I-“ Richie choked on his own words before they even left his mouth, god that must be how Bill feels, as he watched Eddie transform into the magnificent beast that he had imagined to be back here. 

Eddie grew nearly 4 feet in size and was now towering over Richie. His limbs bulged out and grew coarse thick gray hair. His jaw and nose growing into a large snout with rows and rows of sharp teeth. 

“Whats a matter faggot? Are you scared of me now?” The beast taunted. 

Richie gasped as he pushed himself up into the wall behind him to get away from the beast. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t speak. No words could leave his mouth. 

“Nothing to say?” The beast exclaimed, “I’m real, as real as your secret Richie!” The beast exclaimed, “I know your secret Rich! Your dirty little secret!”

Richie spared a glance down the alley and saw the street. He saw cars passing. He saw an escape, so he took it. 

Richie ran so fast. He was almost glad he didn’t bring his bike because there was no way he was stopping outside the arcade to get it now. Not when that beast was there. 

He doesn’t know how, but he somehow made it back to his home. He stumbled through the doorway of his home nearly tripping over the rug in front of the door. 

“Richie?” He heard his brother Mike call from the room off of the foyer. Suddenly Mike was in front of Richie, holding onto his shoulder in a way meant to be comforting but only made him feel like he was being held down in place, “Richie?” Mike said again, “Are you okay? What happened?”

Richie looked up from where he had his gaze cast on the ground. Both Mike and Lucas stood in front of him, both with varying degrees of concern on their faces. 

“I’m fine.” Richie said harshly as he threw Mike’s hand off of his shoulder and ran up stairs to the bathroom across his room. He promptly locked the door and threw up in the toilet. 

That... _ thing _ ...knew his deepest darkest secret and he had no idea how or what that thing even was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: Stanley Uris


	9. Stanley Uris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan practices for his Bar Mitzvah and sees something he’ll swear was all in his head. He then has a talk with Robin. The Losers build a dam and Stan has a realization.

**Chapter 9** : Stanley Uris

**_Wednesday, June 21_ **

Stan stood on the side of the road along with Will, Max, and El watching Richie jog up to his house and go inside. The five of them, along with the other Losers, had just out ran, or rather escaped Bowers at the mall after Richie couldn’t contain himself and spilt soda and popcorn all over Bowers. 

“It was nice to meet you El, and nice to see you two today.” Stan said as he turned to the three party members. 

“It was fun hanging out with you and your friends, you're all a lot more laid back than our friends, and when I say friends I’m talking about Mike specifically.” Max said with a light chuckle.

Stan nodded and turned to walk up to his house but was stopped by El. She was suddenly right in front of him staring at him intently. The pair shared an awkward moment with each other where they just stared. El glanced down at Stan’s arm where he had a band aid on it. He slowly brought his arm to his chest, suddenly feeling extremely self conscious. 

“Ummm…. bye.” Stan said before he ran up to his house leaving the trio behind. He was slightly confused as to why El had looked at him like that, as he entered his home, “MOM! I’m home!” Stan called out as he removed his shoes and placed them neatly on the rack. 

“Hey sweetie. How was the movie?” Andrea Uris asked as she walked into the foyer from the kitchen.

“It was okay, the first Ghostbusters was definitely better, but I have no idea how it ends because Richie was being Richie.” Stan said. 

“What did he do this time?” Andrea asked. 

“Henry Bowers was sitting under the balcony and Richie dumped soda and popcorn over the balcony.”

“He didn’t-“

“We ended up getting chased out of the mall by Bowers. Then out of nowhere a cart rolls out of the music store straight into Henry. He fell flat on his face.” Stan laughed out. 

“Stanley, you didn’t…” Andrea trailed off. 

“No! Of course not. I haven’t used them in years.” Stan said defensively because his mother should know him well enough to know he’d never use his powers in public or rather at all. 

“I know, I just...worry. You know?”

“I know mama, I’m sorry I made you worry.”

There was a beat of awkward silence. Stan’s powers were something they didn’t talk about. Heck, Stan’s sister Robin didn’t even know about them. It _needed_ to remain a secret, which is why Stan often wears a bandaid or his watch over his tiny tattoo on his arm that reads: 012. To make it seem less odd that he wears a bandaid on that part of his arm almost all the time he wears other bandaids along his arms and hands, not many but enough to make the single one not as noticeable. When asked he claims that he had a bad spot of eczema, which is a lie because he doesn’t even have eczema and came up with the lie because his father and sister suffer from it. 

“Your father is waiting for you at the synagogue.” Andrea suddenly announced, “He wants to pr-“

“Practice more?” Stan finished his mother’s sentence. “It’s all I’ve been doing for the past...I don’t even know how long.”

“I know sweetie, he just wants everything to be perfect. You and him are a lot alike in that sense.” Andra explained, “I’ll drive you over.”

____

Stan stood in the middle of the synagogue on the stage stumbling through the words from his father’s Torah. He felt his eyes watering as he messed up the words yet again and his father corrected him for what seemed like the millionth time. 

Donald Uris stood up on the balcony looking down on Stan. He could feel his father’s eyes boring through him. 

“You're not studying, Stanley. And yet this is exactly what this is all about, taking responsibility for one’s religious life.” Donald lectured. Donald sounded more like a teacher rather than Stan’s father. Stan turned to look at his father, he felt so small from where he was standing, “How’s it going to look if the Rabbi’s son can’t finish his own Torah readings? Do you want to bring shame on me, your mother, and your sister?”

“No sir.” Stan squeaked out as he turned to look at the Torah instead of his father as he felt tears begin to prick his eyes. All he’s ever wanted in his life was to feel like enough for his father. He felt like he had to prove himself _because_ he’s not biologically Donald’s son.

“On the people of the synagogue?” Donald asked. 

“No sir.” Stan’s voice cracked. 

“Take the book to my office. Obviously, you're not using it.” Donald ordered. 

Stan closed the book, blinking away the tears threatening to fall. He quickly ran to his father’s office. 

He slowed as he approached the open door. He _hated_ his father’s office. He hated it for one sole reason, _she_ was in there. She was _always_ in there. She or rather the misshaped lady holding the flute in the painting, or Judith as his father insists.

She sparks something inside of Stan that he doesn’t quite understand. She taunts him, she watches his every move with her uneven eyes, her lopsided face, her long spindly fingers. It created a terrible anxiety inside of Stan. She’s all kinds of crooked and wrong and Stan can’t fix it. It was like the painting was the predator and Stan was her prey. He imagines the lady slinking out of the painting and opening her mouth up wide to reveal thousands upon thousands of rows of sharp and pointy teeth ready to tear Stan apart. 

The thought alone made him want to vomit. He held his hand over his face as he walked through the office. He avoided looking at her at all costs. But today he felt the _need_ to stop. He had to look. Something was calling for him to look at the painting. When he did he found it to be hanging on the wall lopsided.

He took a deep, and shaky, breath before stepping up to the painting to straighten it. As soon as it was straightened Stan stepped away from it and walked immediately to the bookshelf and placed the Torah back onto the shelf. 

He jumped when he heard something clatter to the floor behind him. He turned around to see the painting had fallen to the floor. The first thought to run through his head was: where is she? The next was more rational: where did the draft come in from that knocked the painting down?

The lights flickers, though it is unclear whether that was from Stan, unconsciously using his powers, or from the creature lurking in the darkness of the room. 

Stan bent down and picked the painting off the floor and immediately hung it back on the wall. He froze when he saw the paint now free of her. _Where did she go,_ Stan thought again. This time it seemed like a more rational thought. 

His breathing was so hard it was almost like he was gasping for air. He felt the beginnings of a panic attack start as he backed away from the painting. 

Then the door to the closet loudly creaked open. Stan thought for sure he was going to be the next kid. He had to be the next kid. Whatever was wrong with this town is now wrong in here. It’s come for Stan and there was no escape from it. 

The clank of metal, the flute, rang through the room. Stan slowly turned to see a tall figure, probably over 7 feet tall, standing over him. It stepped forward into the light and its face showed itself to Stan. 

It was her. She smiled a cruel smile revealing the same teeth Stan imagined her having. She growled, almost like a rabid dog, before stepping towards Stan again. 

Stan did the only thing he could think of to do. He ran. 

There was no way that's real. Just like how he never saw dead boys at the standpipe in the park back in March. He _must_ be hallucinating. He must be like that one girl at school who is epileptic and would sometimes describe her episodes. It _had_ to be like that. 

**_Sunday, June 25_ **

Stan sat in the back of Scoops Ahoy with his sister, Robin. She was on a break while Steve took over outside scooping ice cream for customers. 

Stan sat stirring his melted mint chocolate ice cream. It was practically ice cream soup at this point. 

“What’s on your mind birdie?” Robin finally asked after watching Stan miserably stir his ice cream for 10 minutes. 

“It’s nothing.” Stan basically spat out. 

“It’s _not_ nothing. I know you.”

“I’m a disappointment. _That’s_ what.”

“A disappointment?” Robin repeated, “Why do you think that?”

“I can’t...I can’t finish my Torah readings.”

“Do you _need_ help?” Robin asked. 

“I don’t need help!” Stan cried out, “I _need_ dad to stop saying shit like: I’ll bring shame on the whole family and synagogue-“

“Did dad really say that?”

“It’s dad. What do you think?”

“He needs to stop saying shit like that because it’s just making you stressed out, and it’s not helping because now you're messing up more _because_ you’re stressed out.”

“Stop, you don’t need to lie. I know I’m a disappointment. I know dad never even wanted me in the first place-“

“Whoa! Stop right there Stanley Isaiah Uris!” Robin basically scolded, “We wanted you, and we still want you because you, Stanley Uris, are the best.”

“But-“

“No. I’m not allowing you to talk shit about my little brother. That’s only allowed for two people, me and Richie Tozier.”

“What about me?” Richie asked as he suddenly walked into the backroom as if he was summoned.

“Richie-“ Stan exclaimed in surprise and confusion.

“Steve let me back.” Richie answered Stan’s unasked question, “Now what can only me and Robin do?”

“Talk shit about him.” Robin smiled. 

“Damn straight.” Richie agreed,”now Stanny Boy, I’ve been looking for ya all day.”

“What for?” Stan asked. 

“Bill and Eddie’s plan.” Richie stated. 

“Plan?” Stan asked. His mind immediately went to them looking for Georgie again. He really didn’t want to do that again, as much as he loved the boy. Bill would go _anywhere_ if he thinks there’s a possibility that Georgie could be there.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” Richie asked. 

“Not my fault, I have a lot of shit going on right now.”

“Right... the dam.” Richie

“Shit! It’s the 25th already?” Stan asked. 

“Yeah, we thought you forgot when you didn’t show up.”

“Sorry.” Stan said bashfully. 

“It’s all good Stan the man. Bill and Eddie are rallying the troops anyways.”

“The troops? You mean Ben, Bev, Will, Max, and El?”

“Yep and they’re probably waiting for us by now.” Richie exclaimed. 

Stan turned to Robin as if he was looking for permission to go, “I’ll see you later birdie. Both of you be careful, okay?”

“Bye Robbie!” Stan said before he followed Richie out of Scoops Ahoy, “Bye Steve.” Stan called over his shoulder as he passed Steve. Steve awkwardly waved as Richie and Stan passed. After a little while Stan finally asked, “Does Bill and Eddie actually have a plan to build a dam or are the nine of us just winging it?”

“Winging it.”

Stan almost scoffed. He _hated_ when things, such as building a dam, weren’t meticulously planned out. 

____

Stan was pleasantly surprised when he saw an orderly plan led by Ben going on for building a dam. It seemed like Ben knew what he was doing. Ben was explaining where to put the boards and where to place rocks. The group was easily taking demands from Ben. 

“Hi Stan.” The quiet voice of El rang. She was right beside him suddenly as if she had teleported there, or as if she were a ghost or something. 

“Oh, um...hi El.” Stan said almost awkwardly. He hasn’t seen El in a couple of days, but the last time they saw each it was so weird. But then, at the same time Stan couldn’t get her out of his head. Not in a weird way, but he felt like he had met her before but he can’t figure out where.!There was an awkward silence before Stan finally said, “How are you?”

“I’m good. Are you good?” El asked. 

“Yes, I’m good.” Stan said. He feels like he’s actually seeing her properly for the first time. She was so familiar but he couldn’t place it, “El, have we met before. I mean before Wednesday?”

“No.”

“Oh…”

“Do you recognize me?”

“I don’t know, I mean I thought so. I think you just remind me of… someone else.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.” Stan admitted. 

“Oh.” El sounded almost disappointed. 

“Stanley!” Eddie suddenly called out, pulling them out of their awkward conversation, “I could use your help over here.” Stan nodded before joining Eddie with gathering some rocks. “You’re welcome.” Eddie whispered to Stan when he came over.

“For what?” Stan asked. 

“Are you really that dense. I’m pretty sure whatever that awkward fucking mess was, was flirting.” Eddie exclaimed. 

“Eddie, I can guarantee you, El was _not_ flirting with me. She just seems familiar, like we’ve met before.” Stan said. 

“If you say so.” Eddie said before walking back over to where the dam was being built to place his pile of rocks down. 

Stan started to gather a pile of rocks of his own to bring over for the dam. He was really thinking hard. He knows he saw El before, the question is where. 

He glanced over to look at El out of the corner of his eye. She, along with Will and Bill, were pulling on a board to rearrange it as Ben told them where to put it. Her head jerked slightly to the side and the board was out. Though, no one else would have seen it unless they were observing her like Stan was, almost like he was watching birds, but her nose bled. That’s when it hit Stan. 

She's the girl he sees occasionally in his dreams. It’s been awhile since he saw her last, the last time was in early November 1988, a little under a month after Georgie died. 

She was on an elevator like platform, screaming. Blood was pouring from her nose, from her ears, from her eyes, anywhere blood could come out of her face, it did. 

She was fighting something. It was like a shadow, or fire, Stan wasn’t sure, all he saw was red with something black almost floating through it like smoke. 

He woke up with a start that night. He was screaming and crying. It took forever for him to calm down, requiring both Andrea and Robin for the job.

El was the girl. El...El was like him...El must be short for...Eleven.

____

Stan doesn’t know how long they worked on the dam, but it really helped calm him down. He knew El was actually Eleven and was from the same place he was from but he couldn’t talk to her about it. 

He found peace a temporary peace with that as the group began to pull out lunches they seemingly had packed for themselves. Stan was usually prepared with his lunches, usually having sandwiches with the crusts cut off and then cut into even triangles with apple slices that he evenly sliced, everything had to be even. 

“S-s-Stan?” Bill called out, suddenly standing next to Stan. He plopped down on the ground next to Stan. The rest of the group were a foot away and all absorbed into their own conversation to notice the two. 

“Yeah Bill?” Stan asked. 

“No l-l-luh-lunch?” Bill asked as he opened his book bag and pulled out a brown paper bag that was miraculously unwrinkled after being in his book bag for god knows how long. 

“Not today,” Stan admits, “I kinda forgot about today. I’m sorry, I know you and Eddie have been planning this for a while now an-“

“Stan.” Bill interrupted, which wasn’t something he did often because he hates being interrupted himself but sometimes has to with Stan because he’ll ramble on if he isn’t stopped. Stan knows this and they both have an unsaid agreement that it’s okay, “It’s f-f-fine. Did you forget b-because of you b-b-b-buh-Bar Mitzvah?” Bill asked as he pulled out his sandwich and placed it onto his lap.

“You have no idea. My dad’s driving me crazy!” Stan exclaimed. 

Bill mutely nodded before reaching into his bag and pulling out a sandwich container box and handing it to Stan, “I’m s-sorry about yuh-your dad.”

“You…” Stan trailed off as he looked at the sandwich container Bill had handed him. Inside was a crustless sandwich, made with special kosher bread and meat Bill had bought for when Stan comes over (which is often), cut into neat triangles and places into a container so it wouldn’t get smushed, “You made me lunch?”

“Yeah.” Bill said nonchalantly as he took a bite of his own sandwich. 

“You...you didn’t have too.”

“I n-n-nuh-know.” Bill said before he reached back into his lunch bag and handed Stan neatly cut apple slices.

Stan smiled sweetly at Bill as he felt a blush he couldn’t help rush up into his face, “Thank you Billy.” Stan said as opened the sandwich container and picked up the first half of the sandwich and took a bite. He gave Bill a thumbs up to show he approved. 

Stan knew the lunch was a nonverbal apology, for taking them to the barrens and then the sewers in Bill’s search for Georgie. It was an apology that Stan didn’t think was needed because he wasn’t as upset about it anymore, not when it led to them finding Ben. Then finding Will in the rain, which caused Stan to meet El, the girl who held the answers of which the questions Stan didn't even know how to ask about his past. 

___

“Anyone want a cigarette?” Bev asked as she pulled out her pack of cigarettes from her dress pocket. She pulled one out and placed it in her mouth. 

Richie wordlessly got up and plucked one out of the pack. Bev lit her’s and Richie’s. 

“I’ll take one.” Will said quietly, which surprised Max, Will always seemed like one to follow the rules and in no world would Joyce ever want her baby boy to have picked up her worst habit.

“Me too.” Max chimed in as she and Will got up and got one. After a few minutes, everyone but Stan, El, and Eddie was smoking a cigarette. 

“You guys are going to get lung cancer.” Eddie grimaced. 

“If I get cancer, it’s not going to be because of cigarettes.” Will mumbled as he exhaled smoke. 

“What?” Eddie gasped, now very concerned about Will’s health.

Will quickly realized what he had said, “Nothing, that was just...a bad joke?”

“HEY!” The loud voice of Officer Nell almost echoed through the trees. The ones who had cigarettes all immediately dropped them and stomped them out as Mr. Nell came into view. 

“O-o-officer Nell.” Bill said as the 9 of them stood grouped together, shoulder to shoulder. 

“Don’t you Officer Nell me! Your fixins have backed up all the drains in town.” Mr. Nell scolded in his thick Irish accent, “Who’s big idea was that?”

“I showed them how, it’s my fault.” Ben immediately spoke up. 

“It was _m-my_ idea.” Bill said. 

“Me too.” Eddie chimed in. 

“Yeah, I was in on it too.” Richie added. 

“Me too.” Will said. 

“It was my idea as well.” Max said. 

“Same.” El said. 

“And me.” Stan said. 

Everyone chimed in at the same time, except for Bev who had gone uncharacteristically silent when Mr. Nell showed up. The yelling reminded her of her father. “I suppose it was your idea as well lass?” Mr. Nell asked Bev. 

“Yes.” Bev said quietly. 

“Now listen to me. All of you.” Mr. Nell commanded, “There’s been another murder.” Everyone felt their blood run cold at the news, “Stacey Albright.”

“Stacey Albright?!” Max exclaimed as she turned to El. The last time they saw her was a week ago at the mall when El exploded Stacey’s drink as a way to get back at her for being cruel to Dustin at the Snow Ball. 

“Her body was found this morning down by the canal.” Mr. Nell said as he looked over at the dam the kids had made, “So if you come down here to play, come down here like you are now, together. Understand?” The kids all mutely nodded, “That means together, all the time.” Mr. Nell paused for a moment and saw the somber look on all of their faces, “Your hands on it?” He extended his hand out towards the kids to symbolize the promise. They all piled their hands onto Mr. Nell's. 

Mr. Nell nodded before slowly walking back away from the kids. They don’t know who’s the first to move towards the dam, but all 9 of them all together kicked down their creation and watched as the water swept the rocks and boards away, hours of work all washed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: Lucas Sinclair


	10. Lucas Sinclair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas is getting tired of Mike’s drama. He has a strange encounter on his way home. He finally talks to Max. And the Party has an intense reunion that doesn’t end in the best way.

**Chapter 10** : Lucas Sinclair

**_Wednesday, June 21_ **

Lucas was tired. Mike had had him running around looking for Will ever since he had run out of the Tozier-Wheeler house on Monday. They had no luck and Mike was going crazy because he can’t seem to find Will anywhere and he thought he was missing again. Lucas tried to tell Mike that that wasn’t true and that Will was fine but Mike was not having it. When they went to Will’s house yesterday Jonathan told them that Will was out and didn’t elaborate on where and who he was with. Today, they got the same reply. 

“Let’s try the mall.” Mike eagerly suggested that morning. Lucas agreed, he was too tired to disagree. 

So they went to the mall. They walk around for what feels like hours, but is actually only about 30 minutes, “Scoops Ahoy.” Mike gasped out as he grabbed Lucas’s arm and pulled him over to the ice cream shop. 

“Wheeler, Sinclair, what can I get you?” Steve asked when the pair walked up to the counter. 

“Have you seen Will?” Lucas asked. 

“Mini Byers?” Steve questioned as if he was asking for confirmation, “Yeah, he was here about an hour and a half ago with El, Max, Mike’s clone, and his friends.”

“WHAT?” Mike gasped, “He was here? With my brother?”

“Yep.” Steve said, “I think they’re watching a movie.” Steve awkwardly stood there watching the unreadable expression on Mike’s face, “You know what, ice cream for both of you on the house.”

“Thank you Steve, 2 chocolate cones please.” Lucas said as he stepped up for Mike. Mike stood there almost in shock and in anger. He just felt betrayed. 

Steve nodded and got to work on the two cones of chocolate ice creams. He handed them the boys and waved them off and wished them luck on whatever is happening with Will. 

The boys found a bench that they could sit down on. After a while Mike finally says “I don’t understand.”

“What’s not to und-“

“Why? Why is Richie with Will? How long has this been going on?” 

“Mike, will you calm down? Your giving me a headache.” Lucas sighed, “Look, I know Will’s your best friend-“

“That’s not true, you and Dustin are too.”

“Cut the bullshit, we all know Will’s your best friend and has been since kindergarten. Whatever you said to him must have really upset him-“

“Don’t say that. I can’t lose him.  _ I can’t lose him. _ ”

“Mike, your not going to lose Will. I don’t think it’s possible for you to lose Will, not really.” Lucas explained. 

“Lucas, this feels different. Me and Will? We’ve never had a fight like this before. I’m afraid that what I said really hurt him.”

“What...what exactly did you say?”

“I…” Mike froze like a dear caught in the headlights, “I can’t say. It was heat of the moment, I’m ashamed about it and I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it back.”

“Well, maybe we should wait to talk to Will then. He clearly wants some space, let him come to you.”

“But what if he never comes? I can’t have that hap….” Mike paused for a moment, his gaze drifting over the crowded mall and land on something on the other side of the mall, “...pen”

“What is it Mike?” Lucas asked as he followed Mike’s gaze and found it on one Richie Tozier-Wheeler, and Will. Lucas couldn’t believe how different Will managed to look in a little bit less then two days. His hair was shorter and he seemed to carry himself different as well, he seems more confident or something. 

“It’s true…” Mike mumbled so quietly that Lucas barely even heard it. Mike’s eyes were locked with his brothers in disbelief as Richie, Will, El, Max, and Stan left the mall. 

“Mike…” Lucas trailed off, he was somewhat upset about it too but was also happy that their friends were able to be happy after their fights. Lucas thought for sure Will was super upset and was just hiding out somewhere away from Mike and the places they know to look for him. Will’s always been good at hiding.

“Can we just leave?” Mike whispered.

____

The thought first popped into his head a few days ago, it was right before Will blew up and left, he got it again while he was biking home from the Mall. What if he called Max? He didn’t know if that was allowed, but he needed to talk to someone who wasn’t Mike. 

He felt intimidated as he walked up to his phone and dialed the familiar number. He usually waits for Max to call for multiple reasons, but the main reason was not wanting her step father or Billy to answer the phone. It happened once and Lucas panicked and hung up the phone immediately when he heard the voice of Neil Hargrove and not that of Max. 

“Hello?” The voice of Max rang through the phone. 

“Max!” Lucas exclaimed, not really meaning to, but he was relieved to hear her voice.

“Lucas? I told you not to call the house-“ Max gasped as if he had just broken a major law, and at the Hargrove-Mayfield house, at least to Neil, it was. 

“I know, but I just…” Lucas trailed off for a moment, “are we okay?”

“We, as in me and you? Or we, as in the party?”

“Us.”

“Yes, I admit that I was mad at first but then I figured you were just trying to help Mike.”

“Yeah, I guess my advice isn’t the best. I thought I was getting a handle of the whole relationship thing.”

“No I get it.”

“I...is it to late, for the Party?”

“I don’t know, everything got fucked up pretty quickly. What did Mike even say to Will? Do you know?”

“I have no idea, but Mike feels awful about it.”

“I’m so pissed off at Mike, and slightly you, about how you guys treated Will-“

“I know, we’ve been looking for him for the past 2 days, we wanted to apologize, but we haven’t been able to find him until today.”

“What do you mean until today?” Max asked. 

“Went to the mall to look for him and saw you guys leaving the mall with Richie and Stan.”

“Oh.”

“Mike’s probably really pissed right now, he wanted to go home right after seeing you, he’s probably chewing off Richie’s head as we speak.”

“That’s such bullshit! Richie and his friends called Will in when they saw him alone in the rain.” Max exclaimed, she was livid now, “Words cannot explain how much I hate Mike at the moment. First how he treated El, like he could hide her away like a puppy and then straight up ignoring Will! They are human beings and deserve to be treated as such!”

“We could get them together? To talk it out?” Lucas suggested. 

“I don’t want to push them. If they want to talk to Mike it should be on their own terms. Forcing them won’t help.”

“You’re right. I’m really sorry about all this.”

“Don’t be.”

**_Thursday, June 22_ **

Lucas didn’t know who to expect when the phone rang, but he wasn’t surprised when it was Mike. He went over to hang out with the lonely boy. 

First they played some games on Mike’s atari before moving on to just playing a card game in the room off of the foyer. Remy 500 was a favorite game between the party, typically being played at sleepovers when they were playing D&D. 

They were on the last round, Lucas only being 20 points away from 500. He had the cards but had yet to go out yet. 

That’s when Richie suddenly busted through the front door. Beside Lucas, Mike shuddered because Richie had entered the house in the same manner that Mike had only a year and half earlier when they had thought Will was dead. Richie had nearly tripped and fell on the ground. 

“Richie?” Mike called out as he rushed over. He placed his hand onto Richie’s shoulder, “Richie? Are you okay? What happened?”

Richie finally looked up at Mike and Lucas before spatting out, “I’m fine.” he threw Mike’s hand off of him and ran up the stairs. 

“I…” Mike trailed off not really sure what to do, “I’m going to check on him.”

“I’ll go home and let you work out this...family business.” Lucas suggested. 

“Okay, I’ll see you later.” Mike said before running up the steps to find Richie. 

Lucas showed himself out. His bike was unceremoniously dropped on the lawn. He got on and began to ride home. His house, along with Stan Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Bill Denbrough, lived on the same road as the Tozier-Wheelers. Stan lived across the road, while Lucas and Bill lived further down the road. Eddie was between there. 

Lucas hated biking down the road alone now. There were too many incidents. First Will went missing while biking home alone a year and half ago and then little Georgie Denbrough went missing, presumed dead, on this very road back in early October. After Georgie’s death there was a long string of murders that is still happening. Lucas’s mother didn’t even want him out alone, but yet here he is, alone.

“LUCAS!” A distant, yet close unmistakable voice of Max called out. Lucas wavered on his bike, halting to a stop in front of the very drain Georgie was killed. 

“Max?” Lucas called out as he dropped his bike and peered around looking for Max. 

“Down here Lukey!” Max called. 

Lucas looked down to the sewer drain below him. He kneeled down in front of the drain, “Max?!” He called again, “what are you doing in the sewer?” He asked as bright blue eyes came into view in the darkness, it was all Lucas could see of Max, along with her bright orange hair, but he couldn’t see her face. 

“Lukey, come down here.” She giggled, “We’re all down here! Me, El, Will, Dustin, Mike, Erica, and the clown!”

“Max…” Lucas has never felt so confused in his whole life, “what clown?”

“Lukey! Join us!” Erica called out.

“We all float down here!” The cheerful voice of Will called out. 

“You won’t leave us here, will you Lucas?” El called. 

“The clown will show you how to float!” Mike exclaimed. 

“Join us! You want to float, don’t you, Lucas?” Dustin exclaimed. 

“Stop…” Lucas slowly started to inch away from the drain.

“LUKEY! COME FLOAT WITH US! COME JOIN US!” They all called out at once. 

“Don’t you want to fit in?” A low, but somewhat cheerful voice called.  _ The clown _ , Lucas mind supplied, “You’ve always wanted to be cool, right Lukey?” The clown teased, “if you join us, you will!”

“No!” Lucas scrambled back, running into his bike that was left in the street. 

A long white gloved hand reached out from the sewer drain towards Lucas. He jumped right as it almost grabbed into his ankle and was able to pull him into the sewers. He jumped onto his bike and made a beeline home. 

**_Tuesday, June 27_ **

The next few days are quiet, almost too quiet for Lucas’s liking after what had seen only 5 days earlier. 

He was surprised to find out that it was the 27th already, Dustin was supposed to be home on July 1st. Lucas felt bad that the party got so fucked up, and that Dustin was going to come back to the ruins that they had yet to pick up. He didn’t deserve that. 

Lucas marched over to the phone and dialed up Max. 

“Hello?” Max asked into the phone. 

“Max, hey.”

“What did I say about calling me?” Max scolded.

“I know, but it turned out fine.”

“You’re right,” Max paused for a moment before chirping, “Hey babe.” The two only used pet names when it was only them. 

“I have an idea.” Lucas declared. 

“Oh no.”

“No, no, no. It’s a good idea.” Lucas reassured. 

“Okay, what is it?”

“We should do something for Dustin. He’s coming home in a few days.”

“Oh shit your right. I completely forgot with everything that’s been going on.” Max admitted, “Get Mike and meet at my house in 30.”

“You calling Will and El?”

“Yep, see you soon.”

____

“Where are we going?” Mike had asked for the millionth time in the span of 5 minutes. 

“If I tell you, you’ll probably ditch me. And you are  _ not _ ditching me.” Lucas said as he turned to glare slightly at Mike. 

“Is it something bad? Are we about to do something illegal?” Mike asked. 

“Mike, shut up we’re almost there.”

“Almost there? We’re almost at….” Mike trailed off as he finally understood where they were going, “You're taking me to Max’s?!”

“Yes, and you're not bailing. This is for Dustin.”

“Dustin?” Mike asked, almost confused, “What does he have to do with it?”

“You ass, he’s coming home on Saturday, remember?”

“Of course I remember. It’s just…what does me going to Max’s have to do with him?” Mike asked as they stopped in front of Max’s house. 

“We’re going to do something for him. We are going to at least act happy because Dustin had nothing to do with what happened.” Lucas said as the pair got off the 

“Are they all here?” Mike whined. 

“I guess we are now.” A voice said behind Mike and Lucas. They turned around to see Will stopping his bike behind them with El on the back of it, also stepping off, “What are you guys doing here?” Will asked almost timidly as he adjusted the backpack on his back. It had a large rolled up piece of paper hanging out the top of it. 

“It was my idea.” Lucas blurted as Max opened the door to look at the broken party and let them in. 

“Yeah, and I helped him. We are all here for a shared interest, so no fighting is allowed under my roof.” Max said as she motioned for them all to come in.

“Why are we here?” El asked as they all walked through the empty Hargrove-Mayfield house to Max’s room. 

“Dustin.” Lucas stated. With that everyone seemed to relax, “He’ll be home on Saturday and I figured we should do something for him and at least learn how to be in the same room as each other because Dustin has nothing to do with the fights.” Everyone cringed slightly at the word fights. It was such a rare occurrence for things to get like this, and usually they work it out by the next day, but this has been going on for nearly 2 weeks now, “I’m not saying you have to make up, but I am saying you have to learn how to be around each other again.”

“Okay, for Dustin.” Will agreed as he took off his book bag. He pulled out the large rolled up piece of paper and plopped it, along with himself onto the floor, “I guess this is for a poster.” He said as he took the rubber band off the paper and rolled it out. 

“Yeah, something like: Welcome Home Dustin.” Max confirmed as she, along with the rest of them sat down on the ground as well. Will began to rummage through his container of colored pencils and pulled out a red and blue pencil along with a regular one. He then pulled out a wooden ruler and began to measure out and draw the letters. 

The rest of them let Will do his thing. 

“So...what have you guys been up to?” Lucas asked to break the silence. 

“We built a dam!” El exclaimed excitedly. 

“You did.” Lucas said back just as excitedly. 

“Yeah, but then we had to kick it down. A policeman yelled at us.”

“Officer Nell.” Max supplied, “It was Bill Denbrough and Eddie Kaspbrak’s idea.”

“Oh, your hanging out with Mike’s brother’s friends.” Lucas said, trying not to sound rude and let them know that him and Mike already knew, at least about who they were hanging out with.

“Yep, got a problem with that?” Will said almost defensively.

“No, just curious. Did one of them cut your hair?” Lucas asked, trying to ignore the not so subtle glare that Mike was sending to him.

“Beverly Marsh did.”

“BEVERLY MARSH?!” Lucas and Mike shouted out at the same time. They all had heard the rumors about her. 

“Yeah, long story.” Will said, “Nothing they say about her is true. She’s actually really nice.”

“She gave them cigarettes.” El said casually. Mike and Lucas were surprised and looked like they needed to back track their conversation to figure out what El had just said. 

“EL!” Will and Max exclaimed at the same time. 

“What?” El said innocently. 

“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone.” Will said. 

“No, you said don’t tell Hop or your mom. And Mike and Lucas are  _ not _ Hop or your mom.” El reminded Will.

“Okay, fine. You got me there. But you can’t tell anyone else. Okay? My mom will go ballistic if she finds out I started smoking.”

“ _ When  _ did you start smoking? Was that the first time?” Mike asked, finally breaking his silence. 

“Last summer. I just felt stressed and I thought I’d try it. So I stole one of my mom’s cigarettes.” Will explained, “I don’t do it that often.”

“Why did you never tell me?” 

“What am I not allowed to have a secret? I didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Okay guys, that’s enough.” Max cut in, “How about we come up with a prank to pull on Dustin.”

“Yes.” Lucas agreed. 

“Okay, El? Mike? Want to help me come up with something?” Max said as she got up and sat on her bed. El followed and sat on the bed while Mike sat in a chair next to the bed. 

Lucas and Will remained on the floor. Will was carefully measuring out the letters and then tracing them with a red marker.

“Hey Will?” Lucas asked after a while. 

“Yeah?” Will looked up from his work to look at Lucas. 

“I...about what happened the other day...” Lucas slowly said, trying to find the right words. 

“It’s fine Lucas. You don’t have to say anything.” Will said.

“I know, but it’s just...It was a really cool campaign. And Mike and I, we should’ve never-“ 

“I don’t care anymore, Lucas. I really don’t. I feel like there’s just bigger things to worry about at this point.” Will said as he went back to neatly tracing the letters on the banner. 

“You should care. What we did was really shitty, and you don’t deserve that.” Lucas said as he picked up a red colored pencil and began to slowly color in one of the letters. 

“Lucas, I appreciate you apologizing, I really do...but I understand why I was so upset.” Will said sincerely, “I’ve been kinda stuck, since...well you know, and you guys were able to move forward like nothing happened. I finally feel like I’m starting to move forward instead of the usual 5 steps backwards.” Will admitted. 

“I’m happy for you. But I do miss you being around, you know. I can only take so much of Mike.” Lucas joked. 

Will chuckled at that before his face grew rather serious, “I don’t know if I’m ready to go back to that, I feel like I’ll fall back into my old habits, if that makes sense?”

“I get it. You’re welcome back whenever you're ready.” Lucas said as he clasped Will’s shoulder for a second before going back to coloring the letters in, “So, Beverly Marsh is cutting your hair now?” Lucas lightly teased. 

“Oh my god!” Will complained loudly enough to catch the attention of the others, “You sound like my  _ mom _ !”

“Now what?” Max asked from across the room. 

“All I did was ask about Beverly Marsh.” Lucas said, putting his hands up innocently. 

“Stop acting like you asked that innocently!” Will said as he lightly pushed Lucas.

“Okay, fine. Is she like your girlfriend or something?” Lucas asked, instantly hooking the attention of the others.

“No, and like I told my mom, she’s a girl who is my friend, like Max and El. There’s a space between girl and friend.”

“I love being Will’s girl space friend!” El exclaimed before bursting out into a loud fit of giggles causing everyone, but Mike, to join in. 

Mike, as Lucas noted, seemed rather annoyed at the fact Will was making new friends outside of them, or maybe it was El. He couldn’t tell, but he knew deep down Mike was hurting being separated from his best friend. 

“So, did you guys come up with a prank?” Lucas asked.

“Yes!” El exclaimed as she jumped off the bed and plopped herself onto the ground with Lucas and Will, “I’m going to make all the things in his room come to life!”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Will said as he started to trace the last letter of Dustin’s name in blue. 

“Can I do that.” El asked as she pointed to the exclamation point. 

“Sure.” Will said as he handed El the markers. He let her do her own thing for that she followed Will’s lead with the ruler. She lined it up and outlined the exclamation point in red. Max and Mike soon made their way back down to the floor and sat down with the other three.

“Did I tell you guys what El said to Richie?” Max suddenly asked. 

“No, what’d you say?” Lucas asked El. 

“The hot thing?” Will asked as he thought back to the things El has said recently.

Max nodded, “Okay, so we’re at the mall, this was the day El met Richie and his friends, anyways Richie asks El who the hotter twin was and El, sweetie, what did you say back?” Max pulled El into the conversation. 

“I said, I don’t know, Mike isn’t cold.” El giggled. 

“You should have seen the look on Richie’s face.” Will exclaimed, “It was one of the only times I’ve ever seen him speechless.”

“So who  _ did _ you say was the hotter twin after they clarified?” Lucas asked, trying to stir the pot slightly. 

“Both, they look the same.”

“We do  _ not _ !” Mike exclaimed.

“Yes you do!” El insisted.

“No, Richie has the weird eye thing, what’s it called again?” Mike stated. 

“Heterochromia.” Will supplied. 

“Good point.” El said as if she was agreeing with Mike then said, “Richie is the hotter twin because he has cool eyes.” In spite of Mike.

“What?” Mike scampered for a second trying to find the right words, “But...that...what?”

“If it makes you feel better Stan said it was you, but that was in spite of Richie.” Max offered. 

“Yeah, that makes me feel so much better Max.” Mike sarcastically said. 

Max just shrugged, “Should we add anything else to the sign?” 

“I don’t know, Will’s the artist here.” Lucas said as they all turned to Will. 

“I…” Will trailed off for a second in thought, “I could draw his D&D character?”

____

Mike was a mix of emotions. On one hand he was so happy to finally spend time with both Will and El again, Max was just the not too friendly bonus. On the other hand he was upset that they were spending time with his brother and not him. In his mind, it felt like they were trying to replace him with the dollar store version of himself.

On their way out he caught El by the arm to talk to her, “Hey El, I just wanted to say…” Mike trailed off, “You know when I said Nana was sick? She wasn’t. I lied.” He admitted, even though everyone knew that.

“I know.” El said deadpan. She turned to leave, Will was getting onto his bike waiting for her. She only stoped because Mike kept talking. 

“Right, right, right. No, I just…think it was important for you to know the context.” Mike said, El gave him an unimpressed look, “Hopper, he went all crazy on me, telling me I’m spending way too much time with you. He  _ made _ me lie. I mean, you’re the most important thing to me in the world.”

El couldn’t help the feeling, that Mike was lying again, that came over her, “What if he’s right?” She asked.

“What?” Mike seemed surprised.

“Hop.” El clarified. 

“No, no, no, no. He’s just some angry old man who hates joy.”

“But if I only see you,” El jabbed Mike’s chest for emphasis, “and I’m a different species than you, then I should be with my species more.”

“What are you talking about?” Mike asked trying to figure out where El was coming from. El continued to walk more towards Will and the others and was right next to Will when Mike finally got it, “Did you spy on me? That’s totally against the rules!”

“I make my own rules.” She grabbed Will’s arm, “Come on.” 

Will awkwardly got on the bike and sent Mike an almost apologetic look as he rode off with El on the back of his bike. 

“What was that?” Lucas asked once El and Will were out of sight. 

“I...I was apologizing, and it got me no where! Oh except, it revealed the fact that she spied on us!” Mike exclaimed before turning to Max, “Did you know about this!?” He accused. 

“It was her idea.” Max shrugged. 

“Wait, what?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you this?” Mike asked. 

“No.” Lucas said as he looked to Max for a second then back to Mike. 

“Your girlfriend used El’s powers to spy on us.” Mike said. 

“No, no, no, I did not  _ make _ her. It was  _ her _ idea!” Max exclaimed. 

“And that makes it okay? I guess girlfriends don’t lie, they  _ spy _ !” Mike yelled.

“We were just joking around!”

“Oh wouldn’t it’ve been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?”

“You  _ weren’t _ .”

“But what if I was?”

“Then gross!”

“Guys, please.” Lucas said cutting them off. He was holding his head as he felt a headache coming on. 

“No, Lucas, because who knows what else Max has been telling El! She’s corrupting her!” Mike exclaimed. 

“Corrupting her? Corrupting her how? By being her friend? By teaching her about Wonder Woman? By taking her places other than her room? If anything, I’m enlightening her!”

“You're making me look like the bad guy! I am not the bad guy!”

“I am not making you look like the bad guy! You did that yourself! El would have been fine and probably would have gone right back to you if you confessed to lying in the first place! But you kept spinning the web of lies! And  _ then _ you said some shit to Will which upset him! The only thing I’ve done is been there for them when they needed a fucking friend!”

“What did he tell you?” Mike spat. 

“He told us how you guys pretty much flat out ignored him, and then proceeded to make fun of him for wanting to play a game with you. I mean, seriously? After everything he’s been though, the least you can do is play a fucking game with him.” Max stated, “Oh and apparently Mike said something nasty to him and  _ still _ hasn’t apologized.”

“Look, I feel really bad for what I said to Will okay? I tried to find him to apologize like all last week, then we saw you guys at the mall with my demon of a brother and said demon brother told me to wait for Will to come to me. He still hasn’t come, and now I’m worried he’ll never come.” Mike confessed.

“He’ll come.” Lucas spoke up. Mike sent Lucas a look that said, will he? “He’ll come, you just have to be patient.” Lucas said. 

“But how do you know? How do you  _ know _ ?” Mike exclaimed. 

“He just needs time, he told me himself today. He just doesn’t want to fall back into old habits, the same habits that we need to stop doing ourselves, we all have some work we need to do as a party.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: El Hopper
> 
> Happy March guys!  
> Random fact about my life: I went back to school for the first time since last March, last week! Here’s to getting a small sliver of normal for my senior year! Woooo!🎉


	11. El Hopper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El insists she’s related to Stan. Max admits to El they did something wrong and tells her it can’t happen again. And finally El is haunted by her past.

**Chapter 11** : El Hopper

**_Sunday, June 25_ **

The second time El sees Stan, she is certain that he is the dream boy. She had wanted so desperately to talk to him, but restrained herself until she had talked to at least Max about it. El didn’t want to reveal the wrong thing to the wrong person. 

Her and Max were now walking back to the cabin together after the adventure of building and destroying a dam. Will had to go in the opposite direction, he had Bev to keep him company until he got home. 

El told Max to walk home with her so neither of them were alone, plus El knew Hopper would more than likely drive Max home later. 

“Max.” She said to get the red head’s attention. 

“Yeah?” Max turned to look at El.

“It’s him.” El said. 

“Who’s him?” Max tilted her head to the side almost like a dog would. 

“Stan,” El clarified, “he’s the boy from my dream. He recognized me, I think he’s had visions about me as well.”

“How are you sure?”

“When I went to see Mama, in the dream circle there were two babies crying that papa took, me and a boy.” El said, “In Mama’s house there were two cribs. I saw Stan in my dream, he had a tattoo like mine, 012. He has a bandaid in the spot _that_ tattoo would be.”

“El, I just don’t want you to get ahead of yourself.” Max said, “I don’t want you to get your hopes up and he’s _not_ who you thought he was.”

“It has to be him. Becky told me about when me and Gage, that’s what they named him, were born.” El said. 

“El sweetie he’s not…” Max trailed off for a second before as the realization hit her, “Wait no, he is...he _is_ adopted.”

“I found my brother Max!” El exclaimed.

“It’s possible that you _are_ right. But El, can you even confront him? What if you _are_ wrong?” Max asked. 

“I can’t tell him, can I?” El asked. 

“I just want you to stay safe. We _all_ want you to stay safe.” Max said. 

El nodded mutely. They had just arrived back at the cabin. Hopper’s car was already there, he probably had just arrived home shortly before the girls had returned. 

“Hey girls.” Hopper greeted as they came into the cabin. He was sat in his La-Z-Boy drinking from a mug full of coffee. 

“Hey Hop.” El said as she went over to Hopper. Hopper placed his mug down before pulling El into a hug once she was in front of him. 

“How was your day, girls?” Hopper asked. 

“Good.” El simply said. 

“That’s good, what’d you do?” Hopper asked. 

“We just hung out, us and Will.” El said. She didn’t tell him about Richie and his friends because Hopper would probably blow a fuse. She didn’t want to have to stop hanging out with them, “How was your day?”

“Terrible.” Hopper sighed, “I don’t know if you girls heard or not, but we found another body this morning.”

“Yeah, Stacey Albright.” Max said, “We heard.”

“Did you know her?” Hopper asked. 

“It’s complicated. She was the girl that rejected Dustin at the snowball.” Max simply stated, leaving out the fact that only a week earlier her and El we’re pulling pranks on Stacey at the mall. 

Hopper had nodded. He and Joyce knew _all_ about the snowball. The kids had spent the night at the Byers after and the kids wasted no time spewing all the drama, gossip, and whatever else had happened at the dance. 

“If you girls need to talk about any of this, you can always come to me.” Hopper said, “Or Joyce if you're more comfortable talking with her.”

“We know.” El said softly, “Thank you Hop.”

“Oh, speaking of Joyce.” Hopper said suddenly as he remembered what he needed to tell El, “Joyce invited us to dinner on the first.” Hopper paused for a second to think, “That’s Saturday at 5:30ish. Don’t let me forget.”

“Okay.” El smiled. 

“Max, I’ll drive you back home in a little while. Let me know when you’re ready to go home.” Hopper said as the girls went to El’s room. 

“Thank you Hop.” Max said before El closed the door behind them.

**_Tuesday, June 27_ **

Hopper was growing more and more accustomed to seeing Will and Max over all the time instead of Mike. He’s not sure exactly what went down between Mike and El, but he was glad for a break from the Wheeler boy. 

He was okay with Will being over, more than okay. He saw the boy as his son, and he knew the boy saw him as a father figure, although he’s never said that to Hopper’s face. Plus Will doesn’t spend all his time sucking on El’s face like Mike had. Will’s a nice boy. 

He had left the El and Will alone, strangely El actually followed the 3 inch rule with Will as well. Hopper had never told them that they _had_ to do that, but if they want to keep the door open who was Hopper to stop them. 

Hopper only moved from his seat on his La-Z-Boy when he heard a light knock on the door, it was his and El’s knock, which they had also shown her friends along with the Byers, Nancy, and Steve so they knew it was them. He opens the door to see Max standing on the other side. 

“Hello Max.” Hopper greeted as he stepped out of the way to allow the girl inside. 

“Hey Hop. Mrs. Byers said Will and El were here?” Max asked. 

“Yeah, in her room.” He gestured to the door, “Have them come out here.”

Max nodded before walking into El’s room. A minute later El and Will emerged from the room with colorful marker stains on their hands, Will had been teaching El how to draw. 

“Yeah Hop?” El asked. 

Hop had moved to the freezer and looked inside for a second before pulling out what he had been looking for, vanilla ice cream. 

“Well, you told me how you guys went to the mall to get ice cream cones, so I thought I’d get some so you can have them whenever you’d like.” Hopper explained as he found the ice cream cones in the small pantry, “So would you guys like some?”

They all agreed and 10 minutes later the three kids had moved outside to the porch with their ice cream cones while Hopper cleaned up and got a small bowl of ice cream for himself. 

“Hey El?” Max asked as she licked her ice cream. 

“Hmm?” El hummed in acknowledgment. 

“Remember when we spied on the boys?” Max asked. Will perked up slightly, this was new news to him. 

“Yeah.” El said. 

“That was a one time deal, do you understand what I’m trying to say?” Max asked.

“Not really.” El admitted. 

“We can’t do that again, not unless it’s totally necessary.” Max said. 

“Necessary?”

“Like if it’s an emergency.” 

“I understand. Did I...did it hurt them?” El said bashfully. She glanced down and watched her ice cream melt and run down the back of her hand. She was quick to lick it up as she finally looked to and met Max’s eyes. 

“It upset them, yes.”

“Wait, what happened?” Will asked. 

“Oh shit, you don’t know do you?” Max asked. Will shook his head no, “We kinda spied on you guys after the break up.”

“Oh my god!” Will gasped out, “It was you! I thought I was seeing things!”

“What?” Max and El asked at the same time. 

“It was like how I saw you in the upside down, you were there but not really. It was like you were fog, or a shadow.”

“I knew it.” El said, “I knew you saw me.”

“I guess we have a connection or something.” Will said. 

“Yeah….I guess.”

**_Friday, June 30_ **

With how busy El’s summer has been, with running around with only Max and Will to Hopper’s knowledge, Hopper thought it would be good for her to do something productive for her mind in the time she’s not with her friends. 

He’s been teaching her basic math skills that she had yet to learn. That being some addition and subtraction, but mainly multiplication and division.

El was actually enjoying the math. For some reason it just came naturally to her. Unbeknownst to her, her lost twin brother was also excellent in math and it was also natural to him. 

She had the basic multiplication down, multiplying from 0 to 12. Hopper typically quizzes her on it at dinner and she gets it right in seconds. 

She was looking forward to the dinner tomorrow with the Byers after the party welcomed home Dustin. She had asked Hopper if he could quiz her when they get there so she can show Joyce how good at multiplication she is. 

It was probably obvious, but El looked to Joyce as her mother figure. Will and Jonathan were like her brothers. She had finally found her family. The only thing that she wished she could also have was Stan knowing they were twins, but her and Max both decided that it would be better not to take that risk. There were too many loose ends with her story that couldn’t be explained without revealing her true past. 

So for now, at least, she had to settle with being his friend. Which was fine because she still got to see him. 

El looked back down at her paper. Hopper had written out 15 multiplication problems for her try while he was at work today. He told her that he’d go over them with her when he got home from work, which is usually around 6 to 7 at the moment. 

She was on the 10th question: 18 x 28. 

El started by multiplying the 8s. She remembered the little jingle thing Hopper taught her to remember how to multiply those numbers, I ate and I ate and got sick on the floor, 8 times 8 equals 64. She wrote the 4 and held the 6 as she multiplied the 8 and the 2, 16. 16 plus the other 6 equals 22. She was about to write the 22 with the 4 when she heard a crash coming from inside the kitchen area of the cabin. She placed her work down on her bed before getting up to investigate. 

“Hop?” She called out as she hung out of the door looking around. She didn’t see anything but plastic plates upset everywhere on the dining room floor. Plates she had placed on the small bar of their home after washing to dry.

She didn’t see Hop and just assumed that the plates hadn’t been placed properly on the counter. She made her way to pick them up. Her back was to the living room area of the home as she picked the plates up to take them to sink to wash them again. 

“Look at you Eleven.” A sickly familiar voice said from behind El, “All of your potential being wasted over simple things such as math problems.”

El dropped the plates and turned around to come face to face with the human incarnation of evil, Dr. Martin Brenner. She hadn’t seen him since Kali, 008, made her see him in November.

“No…” El trailed off as she stumbled back, over the plates, into the table behind her, “You’re...you’re dead.” She whispered, “You can’t be real.”

Brenner stood tall, 6’3”, and loomed over El even from a distance. He wore the usual suit and tie, something El has never seen him without. The only thing different was the tie, it was now a bright red instead of the black tie he always wore. 

“Oh Eleven, we both know you never believed that.” Brenner taunted, “It’s not too late for you. It is just a wound. It’ll fester. You do remember what the word fester means right? It means to grow. And your wound _will_ grow if you don’t come with me. You can still be cured.”

“YOU'RE NOT REAL!” El screamed. She was surprised when her powers didn’t shatter the windows again. 

“Oh, but I am.” Brenner’s voice began to morph into a low gravelly voice. Before El’s eyes Brenner’s black suit with a red tie began to melt into a white clown suit with red pom poms, “Come join me Eleven.” 

Brenner’s face began to melt like the ice cream cone she had had just the other night with Will and Max out on the porch of the cabin. Brenner’s eyes shifted from their icy blue to a fiery orange. His straight teeth became jagged and uneven. His skin became a slinky pale white color. 

“Don’t you want to float?” IT asked, “Papa’s already floating. You can join him!”

“NO!” El shouted as she picked up the coffee table with her mind and threw it at the Brenner turned clown, “NEVER!” 

She used her powers and got IT in a chokehold that the party would later dub the Darth Vader hold. IT began to laugh hysterically, reminding her of the Joker in one of the Batman comics El had read with Max, as it faded away like dust in the wind. 

She frantically looked around, expecting to see the clown or Brenner, or both surrounding her. Later when Hopper would ask about the broken table she would tell him she had a flashback or something. He would believe her. He would also tell her that she’s not crazy and he sees things too. For now, she fled the cabin, making a beeline to the Byers home where she knew Will would be. 

There was something seriously wrong with this town and one way or another, El was going to get to the bottom of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Week: Eddie Kaspbrak
> 
> If nobody caught on, Stan’s name from Terry was Gage, which is a reference to Gage from Stephen King’s Pet Semetary.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to update on Mondays!


End file.
